Crude oil dips below $59 a barrel

Crude oil prices settled below $59 a barrel Friday as renewed selling pressure pushed benchmark prices to new five year lows. And the carnage may not be over yet.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.6% to $59.36, its lowest level since July 2009. Brent crude oil dropped 1.4% to $63.34.Saudi Arabia, the world's No. 2 oil producer after the U.S., suggested it would not cut production to prop up prices. Bank of America warned that crude oil prices could fall to $50 a barrel in 2015 as North American output, increased production in Iraq and Libya, hits markets already awash in supply.

Texas crude peaked this year at about $107 a barrel in July. Now it's down about 45%.
Crude's slide pushed gasoline futures down 1.3% to $1.62 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is likely to spell more relief at the pump.

Gasoline now averages $2.62 a gallon, down 30 cents from just a month ago and 64 cents below last Dec. 11. Prices are expected to come down to $2.50 or less a gallon before year's end. Oil company execs aren't sleeping at night, as motorists count the bundles of cash they've got left after each fill-up. And in North Dakota and Texas.