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Oil prices rise after year's biggest drop

Published: November 8, 2012 Comment on this article

Oil prices rose above $85 per barrel on Thursday as postelection volatility continued.

Crude oil rose 65 cents to close at $85.09 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That followed a decline of 5 percent on Wednesday, when traders were spooked by worries about budget negotiations in the U.S. Analysts also say that oil supplies and production are high, which tends to drive down prices.

photo - A pedestrian walks past the New York Stock Exchange the day after Pres. Barack Obama was re-elected, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012 in New York. The price of oil tumbled nearly 5 percent Wednesday, its biggest decline of the year, as traders shifted their focus back to the struggles of the global economy. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

A pedestrian walks past the New York Stock Exchange the day after Pres. Barack Obama was re-elected, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012 in New York. The price of oil tumbled nearly 5 percent Wednesday, its biggest decline of the year, as traders shifted their focus back to the struggles of the global economy. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

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Oil analyst Jim Ritterbusch wrote in a note that he expects this week's price volatility to subside, but there's still a bias toward new lows. The U.S. has large inventories of oil and production is at 17-year highs, he wrote.

AAA said gasoline prices at the pump rose a fraction of a penny to $3.464 per gallon.

In other trading, Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, gained 51 cents to $107.33 per barrel in London.

In other futures trading in New York:

— Wholesale gasoline rose 1.84 cents to $2.6073 per gallon.

— Heating oil fell 0.67 cent to $2.9554 per gallon.

— Natural gas rose 3 cents to $3.608 per 1,000 cubic feet. The government said supplies rose less than analysts had expected, but inventories are still 6.6 percent above the five-year average for this time of year.