Oil prices were mixed in Asian trading Friday ahead of the May futures contract's expiry. Light, sweet crude for May delivery, due to expiry later Friday, rose 31 cents to US$62.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange midafternoon in Singapore. The June contract, which moves to the front month Monday, slipped 17 cents to US$63.15. Brent crude for June slipped 4 cents to US$65.90 a barrel at London's ICE Futures exchange. The May contract tumbled more than US$1 Thursday to a one-week low, settling at US$61.83 a barrel, as traders focused on inventory buildups at a key Oklahoma oil terminal. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell marginally to US$1.8024 a gallon (3.8 liters) while natural gas prices dropped 2.6 cents to US$7.466 per 1,000 cubic feet, the Associated Press reported.
