Crude oil prices eased Monday to less than $45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after OPEC left production quotas unchanged last weekend.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries noted "the worst global economic recession in decades" had contributed to lower demand for oil and said it would continue to monitor its its decision of December 2008, when it pledged to study cuts made in September.
On Monday, crude oil prices fell $1.56 to $44.69 per barrel. Heating oil prices fell 0.0297 cents to $1.1675 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.0278 cents to $1.3251 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.085 cents to $3.847 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.91 Monday, up from Sunday's $1.908 a gallon, AAA said.
