Crude oil prices tumble Tuesday

NEW YORK, July 15 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices tumbled on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, falling more than $8 per barrel, a reflection of uncertainty in demand.

As economies weaken, analyst predict demand may tail off. But, the shift is necessarily visible from one day of trades.

"They're slamming this pretty good," Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. told The Wall Street Journal. But, big price shifts "are becoming a little more commonplace," he said.

On the exchange Tuesday, prices dropped $8.04 to $138.54 per barrel. The price of heating oil fell 0.0068 cents in late trading to $3.9122 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices dropped 0.004 cents to $3.3808 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.014 cents to $11.463 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was unchanged from Monday's price of $4.109, AAA said.