Crude oil holds under $86 per barrel

Crude oil held steady on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, with prices lingering under $86 per barrel. Traders were hit with a forecast this week that said oil would remain over-supplied and tensions in the Middle East did not disrupt production as much as expected. December delivery West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped in morning trading to $85.61 per barrel from a session high of $86.05. Natural gas prices lost 5.3 cents to $3.728 per million British thermal units. Home heating oil added 3.03 cents to $3.0755 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline shed 0.03 cents to $2.632 per gallon. At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.575 per gallon, down from Thursday's $3.599, AAA reported.