Lagging Demand Puts Crude Below $40

Despite the decline in crude, prices at the pump continued to inch up, climbing 2 cents overnight to $1.782 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Prices now a dime higher than a month ago, but still $1.318 below prices a year ago.

Ritterbusch said gasoline prices have followed crude higher, but he looks for those prices to come down now that oil is moving lower.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures slipped almost a penny to fetch $1.0786 a gallon. Heating oil fell 6.6 cents, selling at $1.453 a gallon while natural gas for February delivery lost 10.5 cents to $5.478 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, February Brent crude fell 98 cents to $43.69 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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Associated Press writers Jeannine Aversa in Washington, George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.