Oil

Oil prices slide below $58 a barrelNEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices plunged by more than $2 Monday, dropping below $58 a barrel on rising U.S. temperatures and news that OPEC is expecting a crude surplus in the spring but has no plans to cut more production.On Friday, prices had climbed briefly above the psychological $60 barrier on unrelenting cold U.S. weather. But the chill is expected to ease up in the next couple weeks, leading traders to believe that heating fuel demand will weaken.Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell $2.29 to $57.60 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday.Brent crude for March dropped $2.71 to $56.30 a barrel at London's ICE Futures exchange."We continue the roller coaster that oil prices have been on pretty much since the end of the year. After not being able to sustain above $60, the market really gave way," said Andrew Lebow of Man Financial Inc. "Now, the market's looking ahead toward warmer weather at the end of the month."The National Weather Service on Monday said temperatures over the next two weeks will still be below normal in the Northeast -- which consumes 80 percent of the nation's heating oil -- but normal or above normal in parts of the Midwest and some Western states.Also causing traders to sell, Hasan Qabazard, head of research for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, on Monday forecast a global surplus of crude supply over demand of some 300,000 barrels a day in the April-June quarter. The International Energy Agency has predicted a 2 percent drop in world oil consumption in the second quarter.In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in Riyadh this weekend, Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi suggested that the cartel was not looking to make further production cuts. Saudi Arabia's production is currently 8.5 million-8.6 million barrels a day, about 1 million barrels a day lower than six months ago, he said."If you are asking me are we going to take additional cuts or increase supply, I do not know," said Naimi, the oil cartel's de facto leader. "But, most probably if the trend is like what it is like today, with the market getting in much, much better health and balance, there may not be any reason to change."Traders were awaiting the weekly reports on U.S. supplies of petroleum products and natural gas, which are released on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration."Most observers expect this week's DOE and EIA reports to show heavy withdrawals of distillate and natural gas, but there is the gnawing, lingering fear that the winter is reaching its effective end," wrote Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanover in a research note. "We see the fear every year at this time, although it is barely ever borne out; March is usually colder than we remember it being."The market is expecting a record decrease in distillate fuels, which include heating oil, of 4 to 5 million barrels."The market's expecting a fairly robust demand number. If we fail to get that, it could cause prices to weaken further," Lebow said.Heating oil plummeted 7.80 cents to $1.6471 a gallon on the Nymex, gasoline fell 6.22 cents to $1.5526 a gallon, and natural gas fell 50.2 cents to $7.325 per 1,000 cubic feet.Natural gas, the more popular form of home heating in the United States, had risen more than 60 percent over the past month on the recent cold weather.