Libyan unrest weighs on oil market

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Tension in Libya pushed oil prices higher Tuesday, with West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange pushing past $96 per barrel.

April contract light, sweet crude rose more than 10 percent Friday to Monday in electronic trading -- a faster escalation than during the crisis in Egypt before President Hosni Mubarak resigned.

British oil giant BP said Monday it would evacuate its staff from the Libyan capital of Tripoli, but the move would affect exploratory operations on the mainland, not offshore oil production. The head of the International Energy Agency, Nobuo Tanaka, said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could make up the difference in supply should civil unrest derail supplies from Libya.

In a nervous market, April delivery crude added $5.71 to $95.42 per barrel. Home heating oil added 7.95 cents to $2.7924 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices jumped 5.08 cents to $2.6021 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices dropped 0.9 cents to $3.867 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline was unchanged Tuesday at $3.171 per gallon, AAA said.