Oil rises above $96; US pump prices avg. $3.31

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, was up 71 cents to $112.42 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading in New York:

— Natural gas fell about 1 cent to $3.55 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Wholesale gasoline advanced 3 cents to $2.83 per gallon.

— Heating oil rose 2 cents to $3.07 a gallon.

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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.