Oil prices climbed to US$142 a barrel Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. Late afternoon in Singapore, light, sweet crude for August delivery was up $2.00 at $142.00 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Monday, the contract soared to a record $143.67 a barrel. It later fell back to close at $140.00 on reports of weakening U.S. oil demand and end-of-the-quarter profit-taking by traders. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 5.06 cents to $3.96006 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices rose 3.84 cents to $3.5375 a gallon. Natural gas futures increased 3.2 cents to US$13.39 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude futures were up $2.17 at $142.00 on the ICE Futures exchange in London, the Associated Press reported.
