Oil Futures Prices Decline

Oil futures prices crashed below $12 a barrel Thursday in a steady daylong selloff.

While crude oil led the decline on the New York Mercantile Exchange, heating oil and gasoline futures took a sympathetic nose dive, declining the 2 cent-a-gallon limit for daily trading.

“There was steady trade selling all day,” said John Hill, an analyst in New York with Merrill Lynch Commodities. “There were long liquidations with traders nervous about holding a long (an excess of purchases over sales) position over the three-day weekend.”

The futures exchanges are closed on Good Friday.

Crude broke through several support levels, and when it penetrated the $11.55 support, heating oil and gasoline prices tumbled the limit, analysts said. The last time crude oil settled below $12 was March 4 when it lodged at $11.98 a barrel.

Crude oil settled 44 cents to 60 cents lower, with the contract for delivery in May at $11.44 a barrel; heating oil was down 1.5 cents to 2.71 cents on the April contract, for which there is no limit and which settled at 43.88 cents a gallon, and leaded gasoline was 2 cents to 2.99 cents lower, with April at 39.75 cents a gallon.