Saudi Bomb Plot Unnerves Oil Market

The spike in crude prices pulled up heating oil by 6 cents to $1.72 a gallon and unleaded gasoline by 3 cents to $1.55 a gallon. Predictions of cold weather were also pushing up prices for heating oil.

Forecasts of snow and plunging temperatures for the Northeast, the country's largest consumer of heating fuel, had little effect on natural gas prices. The March contract lost 34 cents to $7.11 per million British thermal units on higher-than average fuel supplies. Natural gas inventories are 24% above last year and 48% more than the five-year average, the Energy Department reported Thursday.

The large supply cushion will likely keep prices low through the rest of the winter.