Crude Prices Ease After Iran Says It Will Release British Sailors

Crude oil futures prices declined Wednesday after Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that he will release 15 captured British sailors, news services reported.

Futures fell 26 cents to close at $64.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, well below the $68 a barrel it topped on March 27 following the troops' seizure, Bloomberg reported. That had been the highest price since Sept. 6.

Also Wednesday, the Department of Energy said gasoline stocks fell by 5 million barrels in the latest week, while crude inventories rose by 4.3 million barrels.

Distillates inventories, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, were unchanged.