The Oil Drum

[editor's note, by Dave Cohen] The closing NYMEX price for the crude oil October 6th contract was $63.33, up 11 cents on the day.

Since early August, oil prices have fallen considerably. From the EIA's latest This Week in Petroleum.

Oil Prices Continue to Drop

In the last 5 weeks, since August 7, oil prices, both for crude oil and petroleum products, have dropped substantially. The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has fallen from $77 per barrel to below $64 per barrel. Retail gasoline prices have dropped 42 cents per gallon to $2.62 as of September 11, while retail diesel fuel prices, at $2.86 per gallon, are now about 20 cents per gallon lower than they were 5 weeks ago. Will the declines continue, or will they begin to level off and possibly increase later this year?

Let's examine the EIA's timely question. Combined with the Jack-2 Test Well, the dropping prices have served as fodder for those debunking peak oil claims.