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 NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices settled above the psychologically important $70 a barrel mark on Friday for the first time since August 2006 on worries about gasoline supplies in the heart of the summer driving season.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $70.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising as high as $71.06 earlier in the session. Oil last closed above $70 a barrel on Aug. 31.
At the pump, gas prices continued to defy analyst expectations by falling 0.4 cent overnight to a national average price of $2.971 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Retail gas prices, which typically lag futures markets, peaked at $3.227 a gallon on May 24.
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