Crude oil holds above $95

Crude oil prices held close to steady Friday morning in New York, holding above $95 per barrel. Prices are balanced between high supplies in the United States and optimism demand from Chinese manufacturing and U.S. drivers will remain strong through the second quarter. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil shed 28 cents to $95.54 per barrel. Gasoline prices added 3.5 cents to $2.8667 a gallon. Home heating oil gained a marginal 0.06 cents to $2.9068 a gallon. Natural gas was unchanged at $3.949 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.56 Friday, up from Thursday's $3.549, the AAA Fuel Gauge Report said.