Crude oil prices drop Tuesday

NEW YORK, June 3 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices declined slightly in New York Tuesday as regulators said speculative investments declined after an investigation was announced.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said net long crude positions fell from 50,060 to 25,867 the week after it announced it was conducting an investigation into possible "manipulation and abusive practices."

On the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, crude oil prices fell to $124.46 per barrel, a decline of more than $10 per barrel from its peak on May 22.

Heating oil prices rose in late trading in New York, up 0.0024 cents to $3.642 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline prices rose 0.0023 cents to $3.3548 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 0.04 cents to $12.261 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline remained just shy of $4 per gallon, up 0.003 cents from Monday's price at $3.978, AAA said.