Oil rise above $91 in light end-of-year trading

[December 29, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices rose above $91 per barrel Tuesday in the final week of trading before the new year.

Trading has been especially light during the holiday week. It's the time of year when most traders have solidified investments, typically leaving only those who work for oil producers and commercial refineries, companies that still need to lock in supply contracts, analyst Stephen Schork said.

Benchmark crude for February delivery rose 49 cents to settle at $91.49 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The volume of trading is expected to spike in the first few weeks of 2011. Several large investment banks have predicted that oil will hit $100 next year as China, India and other emerging economies compete with developed countries and tighten the world's oil supply.

OPEC has said it would not meet anytime soon to discuss boosting production, but some experts say prices may still be in for a slide. China recently increased interest rates to control inflation and that could cool off its economy.

"They're trying to temper consumption, and that's going to temper oil prices," Schork said.

Gasoline prices have been tugged higher this month as oil surged to new two-year highs. The average pump price added less than a penny overnight to $3.049, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular unleaded is 18.9 cents more expensive than it was a month ago and 44.6 cents more expensive than the same time last year.

In other Nymex trading in January contracts: heating oil added less than a penny to settle at $2.5243 per gallon; gasoline futures gave up 1.53 cents to settle at $2.4056 per gallon and natural gas added 10.4 cents to settle at $4.216 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude added 53 cents to settle at $94.38 on the ICE Futures exchange.

[Associated Press; By CHRIS KAHN]

Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

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