Oil prices hovered above $88 a barrel Monday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 19 cents to $88.21 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 34 cents to settle at $88.02 on Friday.. In other Nymex trading in January contracts, heating oil fell 0.3 cent to $2.47 a gallon, gasoline futures rose 0.7 cent to $2.32 a gallon and natural gas dropped 3.4 cents to $4.03 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude rose 14 cents to $91.81 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
