Crude oil prices slide Monday

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices eased down on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, despite the likelihood a production cut will be announced soon.

The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Chakib Khelil, has suggested lower production levels are on the way. OPEC members meet Dec. 17 in Algeria.

However, investors have been "building up big expectations," Nauman Barakat, senior vice president at Macquarie Futures, told The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, investors figured they may have over-estimated the size of the cut, Barakat said.

"This is very different to what they've done in the past when they kept expectations low," he said.

Crude oil prices slid $1.61 to $44.80 per barrel. Heating oil prices fell 0.0236 cents to $1.4698 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.0327 cents to $1.045 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.166 cents to $5.654 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.66 Monday, down from Sunday's $1.663 a gallon, AAA said.