Oil prices rise ahead of US budget talks

Benchmark crude for February delivery rose 13 cents at late afternoon Bangkok time to US$91 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other energy futures trading:

— Wholesale gasoline fell 0.5 cents to US$2.8166 a gallon.

— Brent crude, used to price various kinds of foreign oil, fell 12 cents to US$110.68 per barrel in London.

— Heating oil fell 0.7 cent to US$3.0417 a gallon.

— Natural gas lost 3.6 cents to US$3.376 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The contract fell Thursday following a reported drop in U.S. consumer confidence and growing pessimism that President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers will reach a compromise on ways to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff — hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending cuts and tax increases that take effect automatically in 2013 unless lawmakers act.

Hopes that a compromise might be reached were raised after Obama, who cut his Hawaii vacation short, invited congressional leaders to the White House for talks Friday.

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