Oil prices dropped to near $73 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 35 cents at $73.40 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract jumped $1.86 to settle at $73.75 a barrel on Tuesday. In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil fell 0.45 cent to $1.9328 a gallon, and gasoline was down 0.2 cent at $1.927 a gallon. Natural gas rose 6 cents to $5.35 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude was down 45 cents at $71.69 on the ICE futures exchange.
