The price of oil fell slightly Monday, after a report showed a fourth month of contraction in China’s manufacturing sector.
Benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery fell 28 cents to close at $99.48 a barrel. Brent crude, a benchmark for international varieties of oil, dropped 87 cents to $107.72 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Meanwhile, it’s getting cheaper to buy gasoline in the U.S., and one popular price-watching site says prices have hit their springtime peak.
Oil prices were kept in check by new data pointing to a continuing slowdown in China, the world’s second-largest economy, and the possibility of lower energy demand.
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China’s factory activity contracted again last month, according to HSBC’s purchasing manager index, and the pace of the decline was more severe than a preliminary version of the report indicated.
In the U.S., the average price for a gallon of gasoline is down about 2 cents in the past week to $3.67, according to AAA. GasBuddy.com, which tracks local gas prices, said Monday that prices have probably peaked for spring, and should fall by 3 cents to 10 cents a gallon between now and Memorial Day.
In other energy futures trading on Nymex:
— Wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to $2.91 a gallon.
— Heating oil lost 2 cents to $2.91 a gallon
— Natural gas added 1 cent to $4.69 per 1,000 cubic feet.
– AP
