Oil prices tumbled Monday to below $51 a barrel as investors cashed in on recent gains, and in tandem with a pullback in world stock markets. Benchmark crude for May delivery fell $1.80 to $50.60 by late afternoon in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $1.96 to settle at $52.38 on Friday. In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery fell 3.24 cents to $1.4555 a gallon while heating oil slipped 3.9 cents to $1.3935 a gallon. Natural gas for May delivery was down 0.9 cents at $3.728 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent prices fell $1.48 to $50.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange, Associated Press reported.
