Crude Oil Higher Prices, Natural Gas Flat

News of declining U.S. petroleum supplies lifted energy prices Wednesday, with prices for crude oil topping $67 a barrel, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

High-quality crude oil for May delivery rose 24 cents a barrel Wednesday. As it climbed to $67.07 per barrel it pulled gasoline up a nickel to $1.9471 and heating oil fractionally higher to $1.8688 per gallon.

Natural gas was largely unchanged at $7.07 per million Btu.

The Energy Department said that last week’s decline in petroleum left inventories at safe levels.