Oil prices dropped to near $80 a barrel Monday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 59 cents to $80.09 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $1.52 to settle at $80.68 a barrel on Friday. In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil fell 1.25 cents to $2.064 a gallon, and gasoline dropped 1.08 cents to $2.245 a gallon. Natural gas slid 4.6 cents to $4.123 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude was down 51 cents at $79.37 on the ICE futures exchange.
