Oil ends at $92.20 a barrel after biggest gain in more than month

Benchmark oil rose 80 cents to end at $92.20 per barrel.

The Associated Press

8/6/2012

NEW YORK — The price of oil rose slightly Monday following its biggest gain in more than a month.

Oil gained almost 5 percent on Friday after the U.S. government reported a surge in jobs growth last month, increasing optimism that the economy is on the right track.

Benchmark oil rose 80 cents to end at $92.20 per barrel, heating oil increased 1.48 cents to $2.9409 per gallon, wholesale gasoline fell 0.88 cent to $2.9222 per gallon and natural gas gained 3.1 cents to $2.908 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Friday's surprisingly positive jobs report was still weighing heavily on investors' minds on Monday. The pickup in hiring last month was far greater than analysts were expecting and marked the biggest increase since February. Still, the number of jobs added wasn't enough that investors are ruling out some sort of economic stimulus measures by the Federal Reserve.

Oil has gained nearly 20 percent since hitting a low of $77.69 in late June. That's meant higher pump prices for U.S. motorists during the summer driving season. The price of retail gas has increased about 29 cents since July 1, but it's still below what it was a year ago.

Prices at the pump rose 5 cents over the weekend to a U.S. average of $3.619 per gallon (95 cents a liter), according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. Much of the increase was due to a spike in gas prices in the Midwest, where pipeline and refinery problems helped jack up pump prices last week by about 40 cents or more in some parts of Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.

In other energy futures trading in New York, wholesale gasoline fell 1.15 cents to $2.9195 a gallon; heating oil rose 1.27 cents to $2.9388 a gallon; and natural gas fell was flat at about $2.88 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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