NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices headed lower for the fourth consecutive trading session Wednesday morning, dropping under $82 per barrel in New York.
Crude oil prices had been chugging along toward higher ground, breaking above $88 after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced early this month it would buy $600 billion of long-term Treasury bonds. Since then, rising concern in Europe over Ireland's plans to bail out its banks has pushed the dollar higher, as confidence in the euro has dropped.
Although outside the euro zone, Britain on Wednesday said it would come to Ireland's aid, The New York Times reported. Ireland, however, remains "unwilling to give up control of its economic policy," Ken Wattret, a BNP Paribas economist told the Times.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, December delivery light, sweet crude oil lost 71 cents to $81.63 per barrel. Heating oil prices shed 8.33 cents to $2.2876 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline blendstock shed 0.24 cents to $2.1533 per gallon.
Henry Hub natural gas prices added 1.35 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline shed a 10th of a penny, dropping to $2.982 per gallon from Tuesday's $2.893, AAA said.
