Oil prices dropped below US$112 a barrel Tuesday, extending an overnight decline as Tropical Storm Fay avoided oil-producing infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico. By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for September delivery was down US$1.09 to US$111.78 barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 90 cents Monday to settle at US$112.87 a barrel after the threat of Tropical Storm Fay eased. That was the first time crude ended below US$113 since May 1. In London, October Brent crude fell 91 cents to US$111.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 1.38 cents to US$3.0710 a gallon, while gasoline prices lost 1.85 cents to US$2.7967 a gallon. Natural gas futures fell 5.8 cents to US$7.830 per 1,000 cubic feet, the Associated Press reported.
