Oil prices fell for a fourth day today as concerns about North Korea's missile tests and Iran's nuclear programme eased.
Crude oil futures rose last week after North Korea fired several missiles, hitting an intraday record of $75.78 a barrel on Friday before falling back. Many traders said that surge was unwarranted.
"The market was hyped up because of North Korea's missile tests, but of course that has nothing to do with oil supply and demand, so the market has now been correcting," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 20 cents to $73.41 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures declined slightly to $1.9625 a gallon, while natural gas futures gained 8.2 cents to settle at $5.69 per 1,000 cubic feet after falling on Friday to their lowest level in nearly two years as US supplies in storage grew to roughly 30 per cent above their five-year average.
The recent run-up in oil prices was also fueled by concerns about a diplomatic standoff between the West and Iran.
On Friday, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told a news conference in Madrid, Spain, that the "nuclear issue is not so complicated that it cannot be solved through dialogue."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Mr Larijani met in Brussels, Belgium, last week.
AP