Oil Drops Below $99 a Barrel
Oil fell below $99 a barrel in early trading Monday on signs of lower demand and a possible supply boost by OPEC, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures fell as much as $1.40 to $98.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg said.
OPEC ministers, scheduled to meet this week in Vienna, said over the weekend that they may consider supply increases, which also pushed the price down, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website Monday.
Crude futures had dropped 18 cents Friday to finish the New York Mercantile Exchange trading week at $100.22 a barrel, the sixth straight say over finishing over $100.
That dip followed the Labor Department’s monthly report Friday that showed the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 9.1% in May, from 9% in April.
Oil finished on the Nymex between $100 and $101 per barrel for the past six trading days.
Diesel and gasoline pump prices have fallen in the past month from more than two-and-a-half year highs following about five months of price run-ups since Thanksgiving.
The Department of Energy will release its next survey of filling stations Monday afternoon in Washington.
