By Aaron Clark
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Gasoline futures fell for the third time in four days as the global economic slowdown cut demand in the largest energy-consuming countries.
The motor fuel dropped as much as 5.8 percent after China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., supplier of more than half the fuel in the world's second-biggest oil consumer, said it's slashing processing rates by 10 percent from July's record. Fuel demand in the last four weeks was 6.6 percent lower than a year earlier, a U.S. Energy Department report yesterday showed.
``In the energy sector it's boom or bust and now we are seeing the downside,'' said Dan Flynn, an energy analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. Flagging demand and consumer confidence are the main contributors to falling prices, he said.
Gasoline for December delivery fell 6.5 cents, or 5 percent, to $1.2374 a gallon at 9:07 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The motor fuel has fallen 50 percent this year.
Crude oil for December delivery slumped $1.21, or 2.1 percent, to $57.03 a barrel. Crude has tumbled 41 percent this year.
Regular gasoline at the pump, averaged nationwide, fell 2.6 cents to $2.152 a gallon, AAA, the nation's biggest motoring group, said today on its Web site. That's the lowest since January 2007.
Heating oil for December delivery dropped 3.1 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $1.844 a gallon in New York.
To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Clark in New York at aclark27@bloomberg.net
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