NEW YORK, July 26 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices dropped under $79 per barrel in New York Monday morning and equity markets were mixed in Asia and Europe.

Prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange shed 65 cents to $78.33 per barrel. The price of front contract New York Harbor No. 2 heating oil declined 0.0068 cents to $2.0437 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices slipped, losing 0.0184 cents to $2.1038 per gallon.

Henry Hub natural gas prices for August found a high of $4.599 per million British thermal units before sliding to $4.579.

At the retail level, the national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was rose to $2.742 per gallon from Sunday's $2.737, AAA said.

Asian markets were mostly higher, with the Sensex index in India falling, off 0.61 percent. In Europe, in midday trading, stocks were mostly flat.

Traders were expecting an announcement from the BP board of directors about possibly replacing Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward. It is expected Robert Dudley, the former head of BP in Russia will take over to steer the company through massive cleanup operations in the Gulf of Mexico and through an untold number of legal issues involving the massive oil spill that began with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform on April 20.