Oil prices jumped above $83 a barrel Monday in Asia, according to the Associated Press. Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 80 cents to $83.55 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract rose 9 cents to settle at $82.75. Meanwhile, China said Sunday that oil imports rose 14 percent last year to a record high in December, part of a 56 percent surge in overall imports last month. In other Nymex trading in February contracts, heating oil rose 2.28 cents to $2.22 a gallon and gasoline gained 1.97 cents to $2.18 a gallon. Natural gas futures were down 16.4 cents to $5.59. In London, Brent crude for February delivery rose 69 cents to $82.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
