Crude oil prices settled overnight on the New York Mercantile Exchange after closing at the year's high above $75 per barrel on Wednesday.

A seven-month run-up in stocks and signs of a sustained economic recovery have given support to commodity prices.

Thursday morning, light, sweet crude prices lost 21 cents to $75.22 per barrel. Heating oil prices added 0.0069 cents to $1.9496 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline gained 0.0117 cents to $1.18692 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 0.017 cents to $4.453 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for unleaded gasoline was $2.487 per gallon Thursday, up from Wednesday's $2.481, AAA said.