Oil prices were slightly higher in Asia on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Light, sweet crude for September delivery was up 42 cents at US$114.95 barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. The contract rose $1.66 overnight to settle at $114.53 a barrel. Investors are waiting for a report by the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration on U.S. oil stocks for the week ended Aug. 15 later in the day. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2 cents to US$3.1437 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 1.81 cents to US$2.882 a gallon. Natural gas futures increased 10 cents to US$8.076 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, October Brent crude rose 34 cents to US$113.58 a barrel.
