Crude oil closes under $89

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices headed higher in early trading Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, then reversed course and slipped back under $89 per barrel.

In New York, West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed in on $90 per barrel in early going, but ended the session just a penny ahead at $88.92 a barrel. Home heating oil shed 0.45 cents to reach $3.0562 a gallon, while reformulated blendstock gasoline lost 0.47 cents to $2.7255 a gallon. Henry Hub natural gas shed 1 cent in late trading to $3.59 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, AAA reported a national average price for regular unleaded gasoline at $3.387 per gallon, down from Sunday's $3.391.