WTI, Brent crude drop more than $4 per barrel on session

Crude oil prices were much lower Thursday after the US Labor Department reported that first-time unemployment claims were up last week to 480,000, their highest level in seven weeks.

March contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude was down $4.31 to $72.67 per barrel near the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while March Brent crude was down $4.27 at last report, to $71.65 per barrel, on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Administration said that natural gas stockpiles were down only 115 billion cubic feet last week, much less than the drawdown of 121 billion to 125 billion cubic feet that was anticipated, to 2.41 billion cubic feet.

The lower-than-expected drawdown, blamed on continuing weak demand for natural gas for home heating and to run industry, left natural gas in storage 9 percent higher than last year’s levels and 6.6 percent above the five-year average.

Despite the low drawdown, however, Nymex March natural gas futures had added a cent to $5.43 million British thermal units in afternoon trade.

Nymex March gasoline futures were down 9 cents in afternoon trade to $1.95 per gallon while March heating oil had dropped 8 cents to $1.94 per gallon.

The retail price of a gallon of gasoline in the US was at $2.659 per gallon, down 3.1 cents from last week but still way up from prices last year at this time.