Crude oil drops 20 cents per barrel

New York -- Commodity prices held steady on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday despite recession worries and sagging numbers from the retail and housing sectors.

Crude oil prices fell 20 cents to $87.91 per barrel, in late trading Thursday.

Heating oil prices slipped marginally, down 0.13 cents to $2.4572 per gallon.

Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.23 cents to $2.2655 per gallon.

Natural gas prices gained 1.8 cents, to to $8.12 per million British thermal units on the exchange.

The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline dropped to $2.972 per gallon from Wednesday's price of $2.976 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.

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