Oil prices up slightly

New York -- Crude oil prices rose slightly to nearly $122 a barrel Wednesday in New York as the market showed signs of a sustained lowering of energy prices.

Future contracts for oil, used by airlines as a hedge against rising prices, for example, are selling for less than the current price, a reversal of May's market behavior, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"The market dynamics have shifted," Antoine Halff, deputy head of research at Newedge USA, told the Journal.

Oil edged up slightly on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 21 cents to $121.91 per barrel. Heating oil prices rose 0.0028 cents to $3.475 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices fell 0.0168 cents to $2.9909 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.112 cents to $9.018 per million British thermal units.

The national average retail price of unleaded gasoline edged lower, down 0.015 cents to $3.926 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.