Oil prices fell to near $81 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for May delivery was down 70 cents to $81.21 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 31 cents to settle at $81.91 a barrel on Tuesday. In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil fell 1.33 cents to $2.084 a gallon, and gasoline slid 2.23 cents to $2.241 a gallon. Natural gas dropped 2.8 cents to $4.102 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude was down 62 cents at $80.08 on the ICE futures exchange.
