Crude oil prices rise sharply Wednesday

New York -- Crude oil prices rose after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. gasoline stocks had fallen by 6.4 million barrels last week.

Crude oil stocks also fell, down 0.4 million barrels on the week ending Aug. 8, the EIA said.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, oil prices rose sharply, up $3.42 to $116.42 per barrel. Heating oil prices rose 0.0593 cents to $3.141 per gallon.

Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices rose 0.0705 cents to $2.943 per gallon.

Natural gas prices rose 0.16 cents to $8.51 per million British thermal units.

The national average retail price of unleaded regular gasoline fell 0.012 cents to $3.787 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.