Crude oil prices in retreat Friday

Crude oil prices headed toward $80 per barrel Friday as fears of a global economic slowdown mounted.

The economic downturn has pulled oil 44 percent below its peak above $147 in July.

The whole market has lost confidence in everything, Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist with ANZ Bank told The Wall Street Journal. Everyone is worried about global growth, and oil is the front line commodity for that, he said.

Crude oil prices fell $3.94 to $82.65 per barrel. Heating oil prices fell 0.1092 cents to $2.3094 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.0881 cents to $1.9392 per gallon. Natural gas prices slid 0.175 cents to $6.65 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.403 Friday, down from Thursday's $3.668 a gallon, AAA said.