Oil Prices Rise Toward $49 a Barrel

Crude oil futures closed in on $49 a barrel Monday as traders kept an
eye on the possibility of another OPEC production cut, turmoil in
Nigeria and violence in Iraq ahead of the election.

Prices
reversed course after falling early in the day in what appeared to be
profit-taking after last week's sharp move higher and as forecasters
called for near-normal temperatures in the week ahead.

Light
sweet crude for March delivery rose 28 cents to settle at $48.81 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil futures are nearly 40
percent higher than a year ago.

In other Nymex trade, February
heating oil futures were up 1.95 cent to $1.4032 per gallon, natural
gas futures climbed 23.6 cents to $6.476 and gasoline futures were down
less than a penny at $1.299 per gallon.