Oil prices rose above $85 a barrel Monday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for May delivery was up 35 cents to $85.27 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 47 cents to settle at $84.92 on Friday. In other Nymex trading in May contracts, heating oil added 1.02 cents to $2.2362 a gallon, and gasoline gained 0.71 cents to $2.2964 a gallon. Natural gas was steady at $4.062 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude was up 55 cents at $85.38 on the ICE futures exchange.
