Crude oil boosted by supply concerns

Crude oil held near $93 per barrel Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with price support coming from supply worries. Tension in the Middle East and predictions of lower North Sea production in September are propping up prices. Traders also expect an inventory draw in Wednesday's weekly U.S. crude oil inventory report. West Texas Intermediate crude oil in New York added 49 cents to $93.21 per barrel. The natural gas price was 1.3 cents lower in late trading at $2.821 per million British thermal units. Home heating oil was off 0.4 cents at $3.03 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline shed 0.4 cents to reach $3.001 a gallon. At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.702 Tuesday, up from $3.696 Monday, AAA reported.