Crude oil prices hold steady Monday

NEW YORK, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices settled to near Friday's close on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, as the cleanup went on after Hurricane Gustav.

As Gustav's departed, Hurricane Ike began battering eastern Cuba Monday, its potential damage to oil-supply infrastructure hard to predict.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, crude oil was down less than a dime from Friday's close at $106.61 per barrel. Heating oil prices gained 0.035 cents to $3.025 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline prices rose 0.0401 cents to $2.74 per gallon, while natural gas prices were up 0.145 cents to $7.605 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, U.S. motorists were paying an average of $3.658 for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline, down 0.007 from Sunday's $3.665, the AAA said.