Crude oil prices ease Friday

NEW YORK, May 23 (UPI) -- Crude oil price gains eased Friday afternoon, just ahead of a long U.S. holiday weekend that includes many filling their gas tanks to hit the road.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil prices dropped 0.29 cents to $131.90 per barrel. The price of heating oil rose 0.008 cents in late trading to $3.8736 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices rose 0.0034 cents to $3.3994 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 0.022 cents to $11.879 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline reached a record $3.831, up from Thursday's price of $3.807, AAA said.