Oil prices rose above $73 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as an unexpected drop in U.S. crude supplies suggested demand may be recovering, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 86 cents to $73.48 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped $1.31 to settle at $72.62 on Tuesday. U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly fell last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Crude stocks fell 5.8 million barrels. In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil rose 0.76 cent to $2.00 while gasoline gained 1.93 cents to $1.94. Natural gas fell 1.6 cents to $5.10 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude for January delivery rose 79 cents to $75.98 on the ICE Futures exchange.
