NEW YORK -- New York Crude futures prices that jumped sharply on Wednesday were down just as sharply on Thursday. The December New York Mercantile Exchange contract lost more than $1 Thursday and settled below $48 per barrel as concerns about the United States' heating oil supply eased.
The market had ignored a reported build in crude supplies Wednesday and bid December higher after government and industry inventory reports showed a decline in heating oil supplies.
Thursday's activity appeared to be driven by higher OPEC crude production trends and an easing of labor tensions in Nigeria.
NYMEX crude settled at $47.42 per barrel, down $1.44 on the day while London crude fell $1.73 to $43.02 per barrel.
December NYMEX heating oil eased 3.9 cents to $1.363 per gallon while gasoline was off 4.1 cents at $1.244 per gallon.
Natural gas for December was down 44.2 cents at $7.236 per million BTUs.
