Oil prices fell Friday for a second day and gasoline futures prices slipped as traders welcomed news that Hurricane Rita had weakened, implying that damaged to refinery capacity in the Gulf could be less severe than originally feared.
Light sweet crude for November delivery fell $1.95 to $64.55 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil dropped nearly 10 cents to $1.94 a gallon, while gasoline fell more than 10 cents to $2.03 a gallon. Brent crude oil futures for November lost $1.90 to $62.70 a barrel on London’s International Petroleum Exchange.
