AlQa'dah 2, 1433, Sep 18, 2012, SPA - Oil bobbed above $97 and then retreated in Asia on Tuesday, a day after prices unexpectedly took a plunge. Benchmark crude for October delivery was down 11 cents at $96.51 a barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.38, or 2.4 percent, to finish at $96.62 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday. On Monday afternoon in the U.S., oil suddenly plunged more than $4 per barrel, erasing the gains made last week when the Federal Reserve unveiled new steps to boost the U.S. economy. Brent was down 9 cents at $113.70 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London, according to a report of the Associated Press. In other energy futures trading on the Nymex, wholesale gasoline rose 0.3 cent to $2.863 per gallon. Natural gas rose 0.8 cent to $2.873 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil added 0.3 cent to $3.17 per gallon.
