Submitted by Fox First at Ten on March 18th
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - The price of oil reversed sharp early losses Monday as nervousness over a bailout plan in Cyprus abated.
By early afternoon in New York, benchmark oil for April delivery was down just 3 cents to $93.42 a barrel. It had dropped as low as $91.76.
Traders initially worried about possible fallout from a plan to pay for a bailout for cash-strapped Cyprus by slapping a tax on deposits in the country's banks. Some bank customers withdrew as much of their cash as they could and the fear was the panic could spread to other countries and prompt capital flight from weaker EU economies.
Stock markets in Asia and Europe fell sharply. But as U.S. markets recovered from an early decline, oil started to rise.
Natural gas rose again, building on a monthlong run that has seen the price jump 23 percent. Futures gained 3 cents to $3.91 per 1,000 cubic feet.
At the gas pump, the average price for a gallon of gas held steady at $3.69. That's down about 15 cents from a year earlier.
Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, was down 46 cents to $109.36 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
- Wholesale gasoline lost 2 cents to $3.14 a gallon.
- Heating oil was unchanged at $2.94 a gallon.
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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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