Crude oil futures inched higher Friday morning, paring this week's losses amid speculation that Western powers will slap Russia with sanctions over the conflict with Ukraine.
Crimea will decide whether to become part of Russia on Sunday. Ukraine's prime minister said today that Russian-speaking Crimea will almost certainly vote to join Russia.
Russia has been occupying the region since invading nearly two weeks ago.
U.S. crude for April was up 50 cents at $98.71, after briefly dropping to a monthly low of $97.55 on Wednesday.
Prices began the week above $101.
Natural gas futures continued to fall as the U.S. thaws out from the coldest winter in a decade.
April nat gas was down 0.25 percent at $4.322 per million btu, falling further from a 3-year peak above $5.
On today's calendar, the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is released at 09:55 a.m. Eastern Time.
