Commodity Online
NEW YORK : Oil prices advanced more than $1 a barrel or 1% on forecasts showing that Hurricane Gustav may enter the Gulf of Mexico, home to more than a fifth of US oil production.

Crude oil for October delivery rose $1.17, or 1%, to $116.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 64% from a year ago.

Gasoline for September delivery climbed 8.97 cents, or 3.1%, to $2.972 a gallon in New York.

Gustav's sustained winds rose to 145 kilometers per hour, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The hurricane, located 40 miles southwest of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, was heading northwest at 10 mph.

The hurricane will probably move along the southern coast of Cuba and then between the island and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, heading for the Gulf.

Brent crude oil for October settlement rose 43 cents, or 0.4%, to $114.46 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange.