NEW YORK (AP) — Crude oil prices fell more than $1 a barrel Thursday as thwarted airplane attacks led many carriers to cancel flights, which could mean dampened jet fuel demand and weaker consumer confidence.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped $1.15 to $75.20 a barrel in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures fell 98 cents to $76.30 a barrel.

Gasoline futures dropped more than 7 cents to $2.10 a gallon, while heating oil futures fell more than 4 cents to $2.063 a gallon.

On Thursday, British authorities said they had stopped a terrorist plot to blow up several aircraft in flight between the United States and the United Kingdom.

European carriers canceled flights to Britain, where airports were experiencing massive delays. There were delays in the United States, too, amid heightened security.

Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures in New York, said oil prices were down on security concerns.

"It revives fears, and causes people to cut travel plans, which has a contracting effect on petroleum demand," Bentz said.

Bentz noted that oil prices were headed lower anyway as traders took profits from recent price jumps; crude actually hit its lowest price in overnight trading before news of the foiled attacks emerged.

"This is a correction in the uptrend," he said, adding that crude could fall as lower as $73 a barrel before bouncing back. "There are too many other factors that are so much more supportive ... and will keep prices up."

Prices continue to be affected by supply disruptions in Nigeria due to civil unrest; BP's Alaskan pipeline being shut down because of corrosion; the standoff between the United Nations and Iran over the nuclear program of OPEC's No. 2 oil producer; and fighting in the Middle East between Israel and Hezbollah.

BP PLC is in the process of shutting down 400,000 barrels of daily oil production — about two-thirds of which belongs to ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. — at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. The company said, however, that it would decide Friday if it can maintain half of its normal production during repairs.

Natural gas futures gained 3.9 cents to $7.69 per 1,000 cubic feet. The Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas was removed from storage last week, when scorching temperatures caused U.S. power use to hit record levels.