Crude oil prices climb sharply

Crude oil prices gained $2.52 to $69.27 per barrel. Heating oil prices gained 0.0444 cents to $1.7725 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline rose 0.0519 cents to $1.9024 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.031 cents to $3.89 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.683 Tuesday, down from Mondays $2.69 a gallon, AAA said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.