Crude prices nearly unchanged ahead of inventories report

Crude oil prices were nearly unchanged Tuesday from Monday’s levels ahead of tomorrow’s weekly inventories report from the US Energy Information Administration, which is expected to show that US stockpiles dropped nearly a million barrels last week.

Prices were hurt by a report from the National Association of Realtors which showed that existing home sales in the United States were down 2.2 percent in May, against an expected gain of around 6 percent as a deadline approached to take advantage of a tax credit.

August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were down 13 cents to $78.48 per barrel in midday trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent crude had dropped 6 cents to $78.77 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex July natural gas futures were up less than a cent to $2.15 per gallon and July heating oil futures dropped a cent to $2.13 per gallon in midday trade, while July natural gas futures fell 17 cents to $4.70 per million British thermal units.

Natural gas prices have dropped nearly 8 percent in the past three session as investors took profits.

The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was down half a cent overnight, to $2.732 per gallon on average nationally in the United States, according to AAA.