Oil prices rose more than a dollar Wednesday after OPEC rejected U.S. calls to increase output and said production ceilings would remain steady.

Crude oil rose $1.25, or 1.42 percent, to $89.57 a barrel in mid-morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

It earlier jumped more than $2 a barrel, to above $90 a barrel, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it would keep output targets unchanged.

Oil ministers said after their meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the 13-nation group would meet again Feb. 1 to review its decision.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman had urged OPEC, which supplies more than 40 percent of the world's oil, to increase output.

Natural gas lost 6 cents, or 0.91 percent, to $7.09 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Heating oil rose 3.68 cents, or 1.47 percent, to $2.5486 a gallon.

Reformulated-gasoline blendstock for oxygen blending added 2.81 cents, or 1.25 percent, to $2.2798 a gallon.

AAA said the average U.S. retail regular unleaded gasoline price was $3.044 a gallon, down 0.8 cent from Tuesday's $3.052 a gallon. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International


Publication date: 05 December 2007   

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