Oil prices were steady near $51 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, Associated Press reported. Light, sweet crude for January delivery was up 34 cents to $51.12 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures rose 1.01 cents to $1.11 a gallon. Heating oil gained 0.94 cent to $1.71 a gallon while natural gas for January delivery increased 5.4 cents to $6.44 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, December Brent crude rose 45 cents to $50.80 on the ICE Futures exchange.