Oil prices drop Monday

NEW YORK, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices fell on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, following the U.S. government's announcement Friday unemployment had reached 7.2 percent.

Slow economies have tempered any rally in oil prices, which have fallen more than $100 per barrel since hitting a peak of $147.27 per barrel in July.

On Monday, crude oil prices fell $3.24 to $37.59 per barrel. Heating oil prices dropped 0.0153 cents to $1.4724 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline dropped 0.0271 cents to $1.0841per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.026 cents to $5.542 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.79 Monday, down from Sunday's $1.792 a gallon, AAA said.