Crude prices rise Friday

Crude oil prices rose slightly on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, a day before OPEC oil ministers are to meet in Cairo.

A meeting of members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would include discussions of production cuts, oil ministers have said.

Crude oil prices rose 38 cents to $54.43 per barrel. Heating oil prices rose 0.0071 cents to $1.7271 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline rose 0.0247 cents to $1.2096 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell 0.266 cents to $6.51 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline dropped to $1.835, falling 0.011 cents from Thursday's price of $1.846 a gallon, AAA said.