Crude oil prices settled overnight within a new trading patter above $79 per barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The price of light, sweet crude began to plateau between $76 and $81 per barrel in the middle of October.

On Friday, crude oil prices eased back 48 cents to $79.39 per barrel. Heating oil prices lost 0.0152 cents to $2.039 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline prices dropped 0.0121 cents to $2.0069 per gallon. Natural gas prices added 0.022 cents to $5.084 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose Friday to $2.695 per gallon, up from Thursday's $2.691, AAA said.