Oil adds 1.5 percent Wednesday

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NEW YORK, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices broke to higher ground Wednesday, closing in on $90 per barrel in New York.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for January delivery added $1.58 or 1.7 percent to $89.98 per barrel.

Prices were given a boost by a weekly inventory report that said crude oil stock piles had dropped by 1 million barrels in the week to 371.6 million barrels.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, home heating oil for January added 3.91 cents to $3.0356 a gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline gained 5.22 cents to $2.7431 a gallon.

Natural gas prices shed 1 cent to $3.32 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, AAA reported a national average price for regular unleaded gasoline at $3.226 per gallon, down from Tuesday's $3.236.