Crude Oil Prices Up Modestly

Oil prices rose to nearly $102 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as Hurricane Ike threatened to disrupt supplies in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sweeping in from Cuba toward the refinery coast installations of Texas and Louisiana, Ike was centered about 350 miles offshore Friday morning, moving about 12 m.p.h.,

“You have some refineries shutting to prepare for hurricane damage,” Tetsu Emori, a commodity markets fund manager with ASTMAZ Futures Co., told The Wall Street Journal

“That’s triggered some buying, especially in oil products such as gasoline and heating oil,” Emori said.

Oil gained 95 cents overnight to $101.82 per barrel. Heating oil prices climbed 0.0203 cents to $2.9358 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline prices rose 0.0693 cents to $2.8181 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.042 cents to $7.206 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, average gas prices rose. U.S. motorists were paying an average of $3.675 for a gallon of regular, unleaded, up from Thursday’s $3.671, the AAA said.