OIL prices tumbled below US$82 a barrelyesterday after rising past US$84 earlier in the session.

Benchmark oil for November delivery lost US$1.56 to settle at US$81.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil prices may have been due to fall back from their recent highs. "Prices are extremely overbought," energy consultants Cameron Hanover noted. So a sell-off was not out of the question.

Crude prices have stayed above US$80 over the last week as the dollar weakened against the euro. Energy analysts, such as The Schork Report, have said the price of oil recently has been closely tied to the dollar-euro connection. Dollar-based commodities, such as oil, become cheaper for investors with other currencies when the dollar drops. The euro rose against the dollar again on yesterday, sending the dollar to an eight-month low, before the euro retreated.

Oil supplies remain high and demand does not show signs of a significant pick-up. The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that the nation's crude inventories rose and are 7 percent above year-ago levels.

"The fundamental picture for crude was quite bearish," The Schork Report said. "Put simply, we are producing more crude oil and refining less of it, the textbook definition of oversupply."

Economic data can tip the balance as well. The news was mixed on yesterday. While the Labor Department said jobless claims fell last week, PepsiCo narrowed its earningsforecast. Alcoa reports earnings after the market closes. Analysts expect Alcoa's third-quarter profits to be lower than in the second quarter but higher than a year ago.

In its weekly report on natural gas inventories, EIA said supplies in storage grew by 85 billion cubic feet. That's more than analysts expected, according to Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Abundant supplies and a heating season that's slow to start are pushing prices down.

"Temperature forecasts have trended slightly warmer for the next five days, to above- to well-above average throughout most of the eastern half of the (U.S.)," said Addison Armstrong, seniordirector of market research at Tradition Energy.

Natural gas fell 24.8 cents to settle at US$3.617 per 1,000 cubic feet. It hit a 52-week low of US$3.610 at one point in the session.

In other Nymex trading in November contracts, heating oil lost 5.60 cents to settle at US$2.2518 a gallon and gasoline dropped 3.79 cents to settle at US$2.1180 a gallon.

In London, Brent crude fell US$1.63 to settle at US$83.43 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

• barrel [´bærəl] n.(琵琶)桶；圆筒 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• connection [kə´nekʃən] n.联系；关系；联运 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
• fundamental [,fʌndə´mentl] a.基本的 n.原理 (初中英语单词)
• weekly [´wi:kli] a.&ad.每周一次(的) (初中英语单词)
• abundant [ə´bʌndənt] a.丰富的；充分的 (初中英语单词)
• slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə] n.指导者；....长；导演 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• tradition [trə´diʃən] n.传统；惯例；传说 (初中英语单词)
• session [´seʃən] n.会议；会期；(开庭)期 (高中英语单词)
• delivery [di´livəri] n.送交；分娩；交货 (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt] a.重要的；意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
• storage [´stɔ:ridʒ] n.贮存；存储器 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
• gallon [´gælən] n.加伦 (高中英语单词)
• gasoline [´gæsəli:n] n.汽油 (高中英语单词)
• definition [,defi´niʃən] n.限定；定义；明确 (英语四级单词)
• hanover [´hænəvə] n.汉诺威 (英语六级单词)
• earnings [´ə:niŋz] n.收益；报酬；获得 (英语六级单词)
• forecast [´fɔ:kɑ:st] vt.&n.预测；预报 (英语六级单词)