Oil prices rose slightly to above $72 a barrel Wednesday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 10 cents to $72.02 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $2.78 to settle at $71.92 on Tuesday. In other Nymex trading in October contracts, heating oil rose 1.03 cents to $2.002 a gallon and gasoline gained 0.6 cent to $1.863 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 4 cents to $3.776 per 1,000 cubic feet. Brent crude was up 33 cents at $74.98 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange.
