US crude futures dipped further on Tuesday, although Mexico's closure of its offshore Gulf oil production ahead of powerful Hurricane Dean tempered initial relief that the storm would not hit US oil facilities.
NYMEX crude for September delivery slipped 22 cents a barrel to $70.90 in Globex electronic trading by 0028 GMT after falling 86 cents a day ago, when dealers shed pre-weekend length after Dean took a more southerly route than expected.
NYMEX gasoline led the complex's fall, dropping 5 percent after the fear that Dean might flood or damage Gulf Coast refineries - as Katrina and Rita did two years ago - passed and as the summer demand season entered its final weeks. September gasoline was down 0.6 percent at $1.9241 a gallon on Tuesday.
Despite relief that Dean would spare the US oil sector, Mexico - the world's fifth-largest oil producer - has shut down 80 percent of its capacity and closed two of three major oil ports as the storm churns toward its coast.
Early on Tuesday Dean was upgraded into a maximum-strength Category 5 storm. It is expected to lose some power as it crosses the Yucatan peninsula toward the Bay of Campeche.
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