Oil Falls as Storm Fears Wane

Crude futures eased Tuesday after officials in Saudi Arabia assured traders that Cyclone Gonu, now heading into the Gulf of Oman, wouldn't pose a threat to oil supplies.

The July light sweet crude contract dropped 60 cents to $65.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Reformulated gasoline lost 3 cents to $2.21 a gallon. The near-term natural gas contract fell 13 cents to $8.06 per million British thermal units.

Also precipitating the decline was a softening of the rhetoric between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George Bush. ...