Oil run-up falters Friday

Oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries elected to keep production quotas unchanged and expressed satisfaction with current prices, which have climbed from about $45 per barrel in January to a recent plateau of $70 per barrel.

But the decision was made the same week IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates said demand for oil would rise in 2010 for the first time since 2007.

The price of light, sweet crude, jumped $4.95 from a week ago, then settled down Friday, dropping $2.84 to $69.27 per barrel Friday afternoon.

Heating oil prices lost 0.0602 cents to $1.7316 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline prices dropped 0.51 cents to $1.758 per gallon. Natural gas prices lost 0.291 cents to $23.994 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was $2.58 per gallon Friday, up from Thursday's $2.576, AAA said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.