Oil flirts with $80 a barrel

NEW YORK -- Oil prices jumped Friday to near $80 a barrel after the government reported that the economy surged at a 5.9 percent pace in the final three months of 2009.

The GDP reading was the strongest in six years, though the economy isn't expected to maintain that level of growth this year.

Benchmark crude for April delivery added $1.63 at $79.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude rose $1.59 to $77.88 on the ICE futures exchange.

Oil prices have bobbed between $70 and $80 for most of the last six months as investors balance weak energy consumption in the U.S. with expectations that the world will use more crude later this year.

Crude prices also got a boost Friday from a weaker U.S. dollar. Dollar-based commodities like oil become cheaper for international investors when the dollar falls.

Meanwhile, pump prices increased for the ninth day. The average price for retail gasoline added less than a penny overnight to $2.701 a gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

A gallon of regular unleaded is 0.6 cent more expensive than it was last month and 81.9 cents more expensive than a year ago.

In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil added 4.53 cents at $2.0315 a gallon, while gasoline rose 4.35 cents to $2.0805 a gallon. Natural gas prices gained 5.5 cents at $4.822 per 1,000 cubic feet.