Oil prices hovered below $82 a barrel Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for February delivery was down 12 cents to $81.65 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the contract rose 26 cents to settle at $81.77 a barrel, a 14-month high. Oil has surged about 15 percent since mid-December as colder weather in the U.S. boosts demand for crude products such as heating oil. In other Nymex trading in February contracts, heating oil fell 0.9 cents to $2.186 a gallon and gasoline slid 1.40 cents to $2.11 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 7.3 cents to $5.71. In London, Brent crude for February delivery fell 16 cents to $80.43 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
