Crude oil climbs on Draghi's pledge

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NEW YORK, July 26 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices climbed Thursday, topping $90 per barrel early as the U.S. dollar dropped, then settling down to modest gains.

The president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi said he would do "whatever it takes," to support the struggling 17-nation currency region in Europe.

With the expectation of further ECB bond buying, the dollar dropped, creating an opportunity for foreign buyers of commodities priced in U.S. dollars.

The buying overseas offset a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that said crude oil supplies rose by 2.7 million barrels to 380.1 million in the week ending Saturday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, September delivery West Texas Intermediate crude oil added 37 cents to close at $89.34 per barrel. Reformulated blendstock gasoline shed 0.4 cents to $2.733 per gallon. Home heating oil lost 0.01 cents in late trading to $2.8693 per gallon.

Natural gas was at $3.088 per million British thermal units, off 0.2 cents.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline climbed a half of a cent to $3.49 per gallon from Wednesday's $3.485, AAA said.