Crude oil drops under $103 per barrel

Crude oil prices settled under $103 per barrel Monday morning, as a trend to back away from a recent peak above $108 continued. Traders are balancing out concerns over sanctions imposed on Iran with predictions that nations, such as the United States, France and Britain, will allow the release of federal reserves to keep supplies intact. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May delivery crude oil lost 34 cents to reach $102.68 per barrel. Home heating oil gained 0.14 cents to $3.1715 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline added 0.17 cents to $3.3098 per gallon. Natural gas prices lost 2.5 cents to $2.101 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was unchanged from Sunday's $3.925, AAA said.