Saudi Oil Minister Roils Crude

Updated from 12:05 p.m. EST

Fossil fuel prices were down across the board Monday after Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters that the world petroleum market has strengthened since January and that there probably won't be further cuts in crude production by OPEC member countries when they next meet in March.

Contracts for light, sweet crude closed down $2.08 at $57.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas lost 60 cents to $7.23 per million British thermal units. Heating oil dipped 8 cents to $1.65 a gallon, and gasoline was down 6 cents to $1.55 a gallon.

Regardless of the bearish comments regarding OPEC, energy prices will likely remain high until the Energy Information Agency releases new inventory numbers later this week, according to Edward Meir, energy analyst at Man Financial. ...