"Everybody's talking about the storm damage not being as bad as (Hurricane) Katrina," Justin Fohsz, a broker with Starsupply GFI told The Wall Street Journal.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, oil prices dropped 88 cents Wednesday to $109.35 per barrel. Heating oil prices also fell, down 0.0212 cents to $3.0788 per gallon.

Reformulated gasoline prices rose slightly, up 0.0188 cents to $2.7688 per gallon, while natural gas prices gained, up 0.057 cents to $7.26 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, U.S. motorists were paying an average of $3.681 for a gallon of regular gasoline, down from Tuesday's $3.684, the AAA said.