Oil Continues to Fall, Dropping Below $70 a Barrel

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Frank Polich/Bloomberg News

Oil prices continued to decline, falling almost $2 to below $70 a barrel in early trading Monday, the lowest level in more than three months, Bloomberg reported.

Crude futures fell $1.79 to $69.82 in early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil fell $2.79 on Friday to finish last week’s Nymex trading at $71.61 a barrel.

The declines were based in part on concerns that Europe’s debt crisis could hinder global economic growth, Bloomberg reported.

Prices have fallen than $14 in the past two weeks, from more than $86 a barrel, which had been near the highest level in 18 months.



Gasoline and diesel pump prices have risen for 10 and 11 weeks, respectively, of the past 12 weeks, though three of the past four gains were of less than a penny.

The Department of Energy will release its next weekly retail diesel and gas price surveys Monday afternoon in Washington.