Crude Oil Prices Stumble

Crude oil futures weakened in Monday's trading session at the New York Mercantile Exchange, primarily because of reduced concerns over geopolitical issues, but other energy contracts escaped the sellers.

June light sweet crude slid 75 cents to $65.71 a barrel. At the same time, reformulated gasoline gained 7 cents to $2.43 a gallon.

Heating oil remained flat at $1.91 a gallon, and natural gas edged 3 cents higher to $7.86 per million British thermal units.

Iran's decision to participate in a regional conference on Iraqi security later this week is helping to mitigate worries about global instability. Representatives of the U.S. government will also attend the gathering.

Also contributing to lower oil prices were reduced tensions in Nigeria a week after its presidential elections.

"It seems to us that the elections -- flawed as they were -- will most likely be seen as a done deal, since with each passing day, it will be increasingly difficult for the opposition to mobilize sentiment," according to Edward Meir, energy analyst at Man Financial, in an email.

Meanwhile, the session was the ninth in a row that the contract for reformulated gasoline gained value on the Nymex. Malfunctions at various refineries, including Marathon's(MRO Quote) Garyville, La., site and ConocoPhillips'(COP Quote) Sweeny, Texas, operation, promise to put further pressure on gasoline supplies this week, Meir said.

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