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September 29, 2005 4:30 PM, EDT

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rude oil prices rose Thursday as repairs to Gulf of Mexico oil rigs continued slowly, while gasoline and heating-oil futures fell from four-week highs following increased imports, Bloomberg reported.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures rose 70 cents to $67.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, within $3 of the all-time record closing price of $69.81 set Aug. 30.

Wholesale gasoline futures fell almost 13 cents a gallon, to $2.21 on the Nymex, following reports that U.S. gasoline imports rose 29% last week, Bloomberg reported.

Heating-oil — a distillate fuel whose prices often parallels diesel — fell almost 2 cents to $2.125, though prices were 55% higher than the same time last year, Bloomberg said.

Seven refineries in areas of southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, in the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Rita, remained closed, idling 10% of U.S. refining capacity, Bloomberg reported.