Crude prices climb on Ireland bailout, US retail shopping data

Crude oil prices were higher Monday after a bailout package was announced to help Ireland out of its debt problems, while prices were also helped by new data from the National Retail Federation, an industry group representing a wide range of retailers, showing that purchases by US shoppers over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend there were up by 6.4 percent over last year.

Gains were limited, however, by a stronger US dollar and after equities markets in Europe and the United States declined.

January contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up $1.45 to $85.21 per barrel in early afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude was lately reported up $1.34 to $86.92 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex January gasoline futures were 7 cents higher to $2.28 per gallon while January heating oil futures had added 4 cents to $2.36 per gallon, but January natural gas futures were 22 cents lower to $4.18 per million British thermal units.

The retail price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States fell overnight to $2.857 per gallon on average nationally.

Despite the declines in pump prices nationally, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States remained above $3 per gallon in ten states and the District of Columbia, led by Hawaii with an average price of $3.51 per gallon, followed by Alaska’s average of $3.491 per gallon, while California’s average price was at $3.162 per gallon.

On the West Coast, prices in Washington and Oregon also remained above $3 per gallon on average, while in the Northeast US, drivers in Connecticut, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia were also all paying an average of between $3.147 and $3.006 per gallon at the pump.