Oil prices rose above $75 a barrel Friday in Asia, the Associated Press reported.. Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 49 cents to $75.06 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.45 to settle at $74.57 on Thursday. In other Nymex trading in October contracts, heating oil was up 1.47 cents at $2.114 a gallon and gasoline gained 2.02 cents to $1.945 a gallon. Natural gas was steady at $4.065 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude added 44 cents to $78.92 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.