Crude oil floats above $100

Crude oil prices held above $100 on the New York Mercantile Exchange as supply tensions rippled through the market. A high-ranking Iranian official said Tuesday that tougher sanctions imposed on the country, due to suspicions that it is developing a nuclear weapon, would result in Iran closing the Straits of Hormuz, a shipping lane that accommodates one fifth of the world's supply. The threat pushed crude oil higher Tuesday, but prices were settling Wednesday, easing back from a high for the session of $101.71 to $100.06. Home heating oil added 0.6 cents to reach $2.9219 per gallon, while reformulated blendstock gasoline prices dropped 1.94 cents to $2.6616 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas prices lost 2.5 cents to $3.125 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline gained 1.2 cents to $3.243 Wednesday.