Oil little changed, holds above $97 in New York

Crude oil held at more than $97 a barrel in New York Monday with supply and demand relatively balanced as a winter storm rolls across the United States. "Although the oil fundamentals are continuing to improve in the United States, there is no current indication that there is a supply problem anywhere in the world," industry analyst Dominick Chirichella said. There is one predictable jolt to supply expected, which is a return of Iran to the international oil market. President Barack Obama said Sunday the odds of Iran returning to the market in 2014 was 50 percent. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude added 2 cents to $97.67 per barrel. Reformulated gasoline blendstock for January added 0.03 cents to $2.7272 a gallon. January heating oil shed 0.17 cent to reach $3.0548 a gallon while natural gas added 7 cents to reach $4.18 per million British thermal units. The national average price of unleaded regular gasoline dropped slightly to $3.263 a gallon from Sunday's $3.264 a gallon, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.