Oil and gasoline futures posted big declines Tuesday on a growing view that demand for gasoline in the United States is ebbing and inventories are growing, AP reported. Gasoline futures have fallen more than 31 cents a gallon over the last two weeks. In Tuesday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, gas futures for August delivery dropped an additional 5.76 cents to $2.0465 a gallon. The tumble in gasoline futures helped drag light, sweet crude for September delivery down $1.64 to $73.25 a barrel on the Nymex. September Brent crude dropped $1.68 to $75.18 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Nymex heating oil futures lost 2.46 cents to $2.0315 a gallon. Natural gas futures dropped 16.9 cents to $5.87 per 1,000 cubic feet. Natural gas prices have been pressured in recent days by forecasts for cooler weather and expectations that inventories will grow to record levels next month. Oil refineries have boosted production in recent weeks, leading investors to a view that gasoline supplies would indeed be enough to meet demand. Gas and oil prices rallied this spring and early summer on concerns that an unusual number of refinery outages would prevent the industry from producing enough gas this summer. Refinery utilization increased in last week's inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration, and investors are betting it will grow again in Wednesday's report.
