Oil Prices Settle Back to $108

New York, NY, March 2, 2012 -- The trend of rising oil prices paused briefly Friday to near $108 a barrel in Asia after Saudi Arabia denied an Iranian media report of an explosion at a Saudi pipeline.

Benchmark oil for April delivery was down 41 cents to $108.43 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude jumped to $110.55 earlier in the day after an unconfirmed Iranian media report of a pipeline explosion in Saudi Arabia.