Crude prices continue up

New York -- Crude oil gained more than $3 per barrel on Friday at the New York Mercantile Exchange, ending at $91.87 per barrel.

The day started with crude at roughly $88.50 a barrel, and jumped early on news that Exxon Mobile Corp. secured court orders to freeze $12 billion of Petroleos de Venezuela's assets, in the wake of a dispute over oil fields Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nationalized in 2007.

Heating oil prices lost ground late in the session, falling 0.16 cents to $2.5525 per gallon.

Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices, dropped 0.22 cents to $2.3550 per gallon.

Natural gas prices also declined down 2.1 cents to $8.280 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline dropped to $2.966 from Thursday's price of $2.972, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.