Crude oil holds above $83 per barrel

NEW YORK, April 21 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices held steady near $83 per barrel Wednesday as some airlines resumed flights over Europe with a cloud of volcanic ash dissipating.

Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which has been in stages of eruption since March 20, has disrupted air service and given commodity traders the jitters, given the importance of jet fuel in the oil market.

With some planes taking off Tuesday and Wednesday, June delivery crude gained overnight, then fell from a midday settlement to $83.47 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil prices for June added 0.0003 cents to $2.23 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline blendstock prices for June lost 0.0014 cents, $2.2945 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices for May rose 0.024 cents to $4.065 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for unleaded gasoline was $2.856 per gallon Wednesday, down from Tuesday's $2.859, AAA said.