NEW YORK --- After the Gulf of Mexico averted a storm threat, oil prices fell for a second day as companies bolstered output at platforms in the region, Bloomberg reported. Workers with BP, Royal Dutch Shell and other oil companies returned to work after a tropical depression made landfall without becoming a storm. Last week, employee evacuations spurred oil prices to reach a record. "Prices will stay under pressure because of the return of production in the Gulf," Eric Wittenauer, an energy analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis, told Bloomberg. "We should continue to see demand revised downward, which will also push prices lower." Crude oil for November delivery fell 46 cents to $81.16 a barrel at 12:17 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 34 percent from a year ago. Futures reached $83.90 a barrel on Sept. 20. That's the highest price since the contract began in 1983. Bloomberg reported that prices reached records for seven straight days through Sept. 20 because of the storm warning, the falling U.S. dollar and declines in inventory.