Crude oil prices drop Wednesday

NEW YORK, June 4 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices dropped more than $1.60 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude oil and gasoline inventories dropped on the week, but oil prices lowered, an indication that domestic oil demand is waning.

On the exchange, crude oil prices fell $1.61 Wednesday to $122.21 per barrel. Heating oil prices rose 0.0055 cents in late trading to $3.5513 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices fell 0.0076 cents to $3.1875 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 0.207 cents to $12.428 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline reached $3.983, up from Tuesday's price of $3.978, AAA said.