Crude oil tops $90 per barrel briefly

Prices hit an overnight peak of $90.76 on the New York Mercantile Exchange with confidence rising as the White House announced a compromise tax bill that would extend the George W. Bush era tax cuts for all wage earners for two years. Along with the compromise between Republicans and the Obama administration, jobless benefits would be extended for 13 months for unemployed long-term.

The price of January delivery light, sweet crude settled lower at $89.36 by midmorning. Heating oil prices added 0.34 cents to $2.4791 per gallon.
Reformulated gasoline prices dropped 0.52 cents to $2.3365 per gallon.

Henry Hub natural gas prices added 0.4 cents to $4.492 per million British thermal units.

At the pump Tuesday, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose to $2.958 per gallon from Monday's $2.951, AAA said.

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