Oil Down on Dean

BY

Oil Prices Drop as Dean s Gulf Threat Diminishes

Energy prices slumped lower Monday as Hurricane Dean muscled its way toward Mexico s Gulf Coast, apparently posing little risk to major U.S. oil
rigs and refineries farther north.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $1.40 to $70.58 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline futures lost 9.8 cents to $1.941 a gallon.

Dean, a Category 4 storm, was forecast to cross over Mexico s Yucatan Peninsula Monday and
travel west. Last week, prospects that the developing storm could threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast led traders to push oil prices up over $73 a barrel.

Royal Dutch S PLC said it would evacuate 275 nonessential personnel from the Gulf, adding to
the 188 evacuated before Tropical Storm Erin struck Texas last week. Chevron Corp. plans to
evacuate a small number of nonessential personnel from deep water facilities, but said
production would continue at normal levels.

Exxon Mobil Corp., BP PLC and Valero Energy Corp. said they are monitoring Dean, but have not yet evacuated any workers.

Aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. temporarily suspended production at its Jamalco alumina refinery in
Clarendon, Jamaica, as a safety precaution before the arrival of Hurricane Dean. The storm hit
Jamaica on Sunday.

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