Crude oil slides on production increase

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NEW YORK, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices slipped under $86 per barrel in New York Monday in what traders are finding is a well-supplied market.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a recent report oil production in Texas and North Dakota surged in September, rising 16 percent over September 2011 or by 900,000 barrels to 6.5 million barrels a day. That is the highest domestic production rate since January 1998.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 32 cents to $85.61 per barrel. Home heating oil lost 0.83 cents to reach $2.907 a gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline shed 0.81 cents to $2.5592 a gallon. Natural gas fell 11.4 cents to $3.431 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, AAA reported a national average price for regular unleaded gasoline at $3.34 per gallon, down from Sunday's $3.347.