Crude oil drops off $100 mark

NEW YORK, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- West Texas Intermediate crude oil priced on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled close to $97 per Thursday, despite continued fighting in Libya.

Paolo Scaroni, the executive director officer of Italian oil giant ENI, said oil production in the North African country has dropped about 75 percent, or by 1.2 million barrels per day, with oil companies evacuating workers during the crisis that has spread throughout the region, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Libya produces about 2 percent of the world's oil, but its high-grade crude oil is harder to replace than low-grade petroleum. A possible replacement source, Algeria, has also experienced civil unrest in recent weeks, The New York Times said.

In New York, crude oil started the day at $99.77 per barrel, then veered south to close at $97.19. Home heating oil prices lost 0.06 cents to $2.8926 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices shed 0.34 cents to $2.8715 per gallon.

Henry Hub natural gas prices gained 1.6 cents to $3.888 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose to $3.228 per gallon from Wednesday's $3.194, AAA said.