The gradual recovery of some Gulf Coast petroleum operations disrupted by Hurricane Katrina helped send oil futures sharply lower on Tuesday, and analysts predicted that pump prices, now averaging more than $3 a gallon, would decline slightly.
Light sweet crude for October delivery fell $1.61 to settle at $65.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which was closed Monday for Labor Day. Crude futures, which briefly topped $70 a barrel last week, fell $1.90 on Friday, when industrialized nations announced plans to supply the U.S. with 2 million barrels per day of crude oil, gasoline and diesel.
Gasoline futures plunged by 12.87 cents to settle at $2.055 a gallon on the Nymex, which still leaves them up about 7 percent since Aug. 26, before Katrina struck.
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