Crude Oil Prices Tick Lower

Crude oil prices were falling Friday as worries about the health of the U.S. and global economies continued to have traders questioning the strength of future demand for petroleum products.

Near-term oil futures were recently down 84 cents at $65.12 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude was off $1.09 to $62.62.

Reformulated gasoline was losing 1 cent to $1.46 a gallon, and heating oil was fractionally weaker at $1.98 a gallon. Natural gas, however, edged up 4 cents to $6.47 per million British thermal units.

Among stocks, Chevron (CVX Quote) was off 1.4% at $73.16. Earlier, the company said its third-quarter earnings jumped to $7.9 billion from $3.7 billion in the same period a year earlier. Sales and operating revenue rose to $76.2 billion from $53.5 billion.

Exxon Mobil (XOM Quote) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A Quote), both of which reported their quarterly numbers Thursday, were also trading to the downside.

The U.S. Oil (USO Quote) ETF, which tracks crude prices, was giving back 1.5% to $53.21.