Oil prices closed in on $79 a barrel Tuesday in Asia, according to the Associated Press. Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 2 cents to $78.79 a barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled up 72 cents at $78.77 on Monday after surging above $79. In late afternoon Asian trade, the euro rose to $1.4426 from $1.4376 in New York late Monday. The dollar fell to 91.56 yen from 91.62 yen. In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil climbed 1 cent to $2.08 gallon while gasoline added 0.7 cent to $2.026 a gallon. Natural gas fell by 1.8 cents to $5.972 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose 17 cents to $77.49 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
