Oil prices react to inflationary remark

New York -- Crude oil prices climbed on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, after a remark on inflation caused the dollar to fall, analysts said.

Crude prices gained more than $5.50 per barrel after European Central Bank bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said inflation in the Eurozone was "likely to remain above 3 percent for some time to come."

The remark triggered a fall in the dollar and a surge in oil prices, analysts said.

"He opened his mouth and caused a pop in the price of oil and gasoline," Phil Flynn, an analyst at Trading Corp., told The Wall Street Journal.

Crude oil prices gained $5.58 Thursday morning to $127.81 per barrel.

The price of heating oil fell 0.0024 cents to in late trading to $3.6784 per gallon.

Also in late trading, reformulated blendstock gasoline prices fell 0.0005 cents to $3.334 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.029 cents to $12.49 per
million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline continued its climb toward $4 per gallon, reaching 3.989 per gallon, AAA said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.