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September 19, 2000 4:00 PM, EDT

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rude oil futures fell $2.14 Tuesday to close at $61.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg News reported.

The level is the lowest since March 21, when oil futures settled at $60.57 a barrel, Bloomberg said.

Prices eased on news that President Bush would give the European Union’s diplomatic efforts with Iran a chance to unwind tensions surrounding the oil-producing nation’s nuclear program, stating that the United States would join the talks once Iran halts uranium enrichment, Bloomberg said.

Expectations that a report due Wednesday from the Department of Energy will reveal increased U.S. supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, and gasoline, also contributed to the decline, according to Bloomberg.