Oil prices fell to near a five-year low Thursday, dropping almost $2 to below $34 a barrel as inventories rose to a seven-year high, Bloomberg reported.
Benchmark light sweet crude futures fell $1.96 to close at $33.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg said.
Oil inventories reached an 82-week high last week, the Department of Energy reported in its weekly inventory report.
Retail gasoline prices, however reached a new high for 2009 and appeared headed back to $2 a gallon as refiners cut back on production, the Associated Press reported.
Oil has fallen 20% since Monday and is down more than $110 since topping out at a record closing price of $145.29Ìýbarrel last July 3.
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