
Crude Oil Tumbles Below $70 a Barrel
Crude oil dropped sharply Thursday, with futures ending under $70 a barrel, as petroleum stockpiles climbed and data showed dwindling demand in the U.S.
November-dated futures dropped $4.69 to $69.85 in New York and have now slid more than 50% since the all-time high that was reached in July. Oil hasn't been below $70 in more than a year.
Brent crude lost $4.48 to $66.32 a barrel. Gasoline futures declined by 16 cents to $1.62 a gallon, and heating oil fell 10 cents to $2.09 a gallon. Natural gas, however, was stronger.
Stocks in the energy sector were generally to the upside.
Exxon Mobil
(XOM) - Get Report
,
ConocoPhillips
(COP) - Get Report
and
Chevron
(CVX) - Get Report
all rose.
Tesoro
(TSO)
and
Valero
(VLO) - Get Report
also advanced.
The
U.S. Oil
(USO) - Get Report
ETF, which tracks crude prices, was down 2.3%.
This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.