Crude oil rises Monday

NEW YORK, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices rose Monday on political tensions and an oil production cut, which began in the new year.

Violence in Gaza and a new attack on a pipeline in Nigeria contributed to supply worries, The Wall Street Journal reported. At the same time, a production cut announced in December by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries began to take effect.

Crude oil prices jumped $1.98 to $48.33 per barrel in electronic trading. Heating oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 0.0876 cents to $1.5665 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline rose 0.0628 cents to $1.1758 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 0.065 cents to $6.097 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $1.672 Monday, up 0.014 cents from Sunday's $1.658 a gallon, AAA said