Oil Rises to Near $80 a Barrel

Oil rose slightly Wednesday but held below $80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

Crude futures rose 23 cents from Tuesday’s Nymex closing price to finish the trading day at $79.28 a barrel, Bloomberg said.

Futures have closed at more than over $80 a barrel only once since Oct. 23, though they did top $80 Wednesday before retreating.

OPEC is unlikely to boost production quotas significantly, Qatar’s oil minister told reporters in Singapore, Bloomberg reported.

Diesel and gasoline pump prices both fell slightly this week after rising about 22 cents in the past month, the Department of Energy reported Monday.