Oil prices untouched by Tropical Storm Fay

NEW YORK, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices rose slightly on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, although Tropical Storm Fay diminished as a threat to supplies.

Shell evacuated about 360 employees from the Gulf of Mexico oil rigs, but Fay made landfall on the Southwest coast of Florida, far from major supply lines, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"You can't kick the market up with some weather," Michael Korn, president of Skokie Energy Corp., told the Journal. "The market looks weak. I still do not see any serious buying at these levels."

Oil prices gained 59 cents above Friday's closing at $113.14 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil prices fell slightly, down 0.0326 cents to $3.0924 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices fell 0.041 cent to $2.819 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.238 cents to $7.871 per million British thermal units.

The national average retail price of unleaded regular gasoline fell 1 cent from Sunday's price to $3.741 per gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.