Oil starts trading down

Crude oil prices slipped in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, opening at $86.50, down from the previous day's settling price of $86.63. Early trading, recorded a dip of at least 84 cents. Henry Hub natural gas opened at $3.946 per million British thermal units, up slightly from the settlement price of $3.941, but slipped during early trading. Home heating oil prices were in positive territory – opening at $2.9039 per gallon from Thursday's settle price of $2.8939. The price picked up a penny in early trading. Gasoline prices also were up in morning trading, opening at $2.7450 from the settlement price of $2.7372 the day before. Prices ticked upward in early trading. At the pump, the price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $3.700, down from $3.703 on Thursday, AAA reported.