Oil prices hovered near $71 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 40 cents to $71.09 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the contract added $1.18 to settle at $70.69. In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil rose 1.67 cents to $1.92 while gasoline gained 1 cent to $1.855. Natural gas jumped 2.8 cents to $5.55 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude for January delivery rose 50 cents to $72.55 on the ICE Futures exchange.