Crude oil prices rise Wednesday

NEW YORK, June 17 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices rose slightly on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, as prices hovered near the $70 per barrel mark.

Crude oil prices gained 41 cents to $70.88 per barrel. Heating oil prices fell 0.0345 cents to $1.8595 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.0868 cents to $2.0203 per gallon. Natural gas prices gained 0.113 cents to $4.242 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.679 Wednesday, up from Tuesday's $2.674 a gallon, AAA said.