Oil prices drop below $87 a barrel

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil continued to drop today on mixed economic news and the possibility that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries will step up production.

Benchmark crude for March delivery lost $1.68 to settle at $86.19 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil hasn't been below $87 since Dec.1. It's fallen more than 4 percent since Thursday, when it was approaching $92 a barrel. About half of the drop happened in the last two days.

One of the main reasons for the decline this week is comments on Monday by the Saudi oil minister, which many analysts and investors took to mean that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer, thought oil had gotten too expensive and could threaten global economic growth.

He seemed to imply that the Saudis and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could raise production to bring down the price of oil.