Oil prices fall as summer driving season ends, steady OPEC production expected

WASHINGTON (AP) - Oil prices fell Wednesday with the close of the high-demand summer driving season in the U.S. and as traders expect OPEC, which meets next week, to maintain current output levels.

Tropical storm Florence formed far out in the open Atlantic and could strengthen into a hurricane by the weekend, but forecasters said Wednesday it was too soon to tell if it would reach the United States.

Further easing supply concerns, Shell Exploration & Production Co., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, said its Mars platform in the Gulf of Mexico, which was heavily damaged by hurricane Katrina, is now pumping 190,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 20 per cent more than before last summer's storm.

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