Oil prices headed higher overnight on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling to a trading session low of $96.22 per barrel.
April delivery crude oil prices tumbled Tuesday as repercussions of the massive earthquake in Japan rattled through commodity markets. Factories in the industrial power, the world's third-largest economy, were largely shut down. Attention has also turned to troubled reactors at a Japanese nuclear power plant battered by the earthquake and tsunami and damage to its backup cooling system.
Prices for April delivery light, sweet crude turned around overnight, adding $1.57 to reach $98.75. Home heating oil prices gained 4.74 cents to $3.0012 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline gained 3.27 cents to $2.8356 per gallon.
Henry Hub natural gas prices added 2.9 cents to $3.97 per million British thermal units.
At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline fell for the second consecutive day, dropping from Tuesday's $3.556 per gallon to $3.553, AAA said.
Source: UPI
Oil Prices Swing Higher on Wednesday
Mar 16, 2011, 12:27