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June 21, 2005 3:30 PM, EDT

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rude oil prices eased somewhat on Tuesday, falling 47 cents from Monday’s record closing price to close at $58.90 a barrel, after earlier touching a third straight record in intraday trading, news services reported.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures for July delivery had reached as high as $59.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a new record, Bloomberg reported.

The July futures contract expired Tuesday with the $58.90 closing price. The August contract, which started, closed at $59.04 a barrel Tuesday.

Heating-oil futures prices fell for the first time in four Nymex trading sessions, down 3.2 cents to $1.63 a gallon, on speculation that inventories of distillates — which include diesel and heating oil — are increasing, Bloomberg said.

The Department of Energy is scheduled to put out its weekly report Wednesday on crude oil, distillate and gasoline inventories.