WTI, Brent gain more than $1 on session

Crude oil prices were up Tuesday after falling in early trade on the news that both Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) had received another bailout from the UK government, a sign that the recession might not be ending as quickly as had been hoped.

The gains came in anticipation of news Wednesday, when the US Energy Information Administration will release its weekly US inventories report, which is expected to say that stockpiles of crude oil, gasoline and distillates were all up last week, and when the Federal Reserve will announce its latest decision on US interest rates, which are expected to remain steady.

December contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up $1.35 to $79.48 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after going as low as $76.55 in early trade, while at last report Brent crude for December delivery had added $1.57 to $78.12 per barrel.

Nymex December gasoline futures were down 3 cents to $1.96 per gallon while December heating oil added 2 cents to $2.07 per gallon and December natural gas traded even at $4.82 per million British thermal units.

The price of a gallon of gas at the pump in the United States dropped half a cent to $2.686 per gallon on average overnight, but it remained a bit more than 22 cents higher than it was a month ago.