Crude oil prices rose early Monday in the last trading session of the year ahead of the New Year’s holiday, helped in part by reports on Friday by the Energy Information Administration showing a lower crude inventory build than what the American Petroleum Institute had indicated a day earlier. West Texas Intermediate front-month crude oil future prices rose 2.1 percent to $46.26 per barrel as of 8:20 a.m. EST, while Brent crude oil futures rose 2.4 percent to $54.50 as of the same time. On Friday the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a report that was “much […]