Crude oil prices rose back above the $100 per barrel mark on Monday while markets adjusted to news of the earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan.
Prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 61 cents Monday to $100.55 per barrel. Home heating oil prices gained 3.59 cents to $3.0649 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices lost 2.45 cents to $2.9632 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices added 10.6 cents to $3.995 per million British thermal units.
On the retail level, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose to $3.558 Monday from Sunday's $3.557, AAA said.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dropped more than 6 percent Monday as the world's third largest economy faced tens of billions of dollars in cleanup, repair and healthcare costs. Damaged nuclear reactors also left a huge open question on the fate of the country, economically and on a humanitarian level.
