Crude oil prices climb

New York -- Crude oil prices jumped Thursday to more than $117 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in spite of a large gain in U.S. stockpiles.

Oil gained in defiance of the rules of supply and demand. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said stockpiles grew by 9.4 million barrels in the week ending Aug. 15. Oil prices, trending down since setting a record July 11, turned upward, anyway.

In overnight trading, crude oil prices gained $1.64 to $117.20 per barrel.

Heating oil prices rose 0.0409 cents to $3.2044 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices rose 0.0169 cents to $2.9272 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 0.134 cents to $8.211 per million British thermal units.

The national average retail price of unleaded regular gasoline fell 0.015 cents from Wednesday's price to $3.702 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.