Crude oil slides under $95

NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices slid under $95 per barrel, suggesting oil has found a comfortable plateau for the time being.

Crude oil dropped from a morning high above $97 per barrel to $94.67 per barrel, despite several developments that are traditional price supporters.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories dropped by 7.426 million barrels last week, to their lowest level in five months.

In Germany, Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, announced a bond buying program that sent equity prices soaring, putting the Standard & Poor's index at its highest level in four years.

In the United States, the Institute of Supply Management said service-oriented businesses showed growth for the 37th consecutive month. Automatic Data Processing Inc. said 201,000 private sector jobs were added to the economy in August, exceeding the consensus forecast by 60,000 jobs.

All this was shrugged off by energy traders, who felt oil was overpriced and reacted accordingly.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas, natural gas lost 2.7 cents to $2.753 per million British thermal units.

Home heating oil shed 0.9 cents to $3.16335 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline lost 0.75 cents to $2.9835 per gallon.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.823 per gallon Thursday, down from Wednesday's $3.824, AAA reported.