Oil prices hold steady Monday

Crude oil prices gave up 6 cents Monday, holding close to $92 per barrel Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil settled at $91.79 per barrel, as China said growth in its industrial production slowed to its weakest level since 2009 for the first two months of 2013. The news was partly balanced out by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development that said global economic growth prospects had improved with recent gains made by the United States and Japan. Gasoline lost 5.1 cents to settle at $3.1556 a gallon. Home heating oil dropped 0.96 cents to reach $2.9604 a gallon. Natural gas added 1.9 cents to hit $3.645 per million British thermal units. At the pump, the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline dropped from Sunday's $3.698 per gallon to $3.696, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.