BANGKOK (AP) — Oil fell to near $98 a barrel Monday in Asia as the crude market waited for the outcome of Greece’s negotiations with creditors on a deal to cut the face value of its debt by half.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 15 cents at $98.19 a barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.21 to end at $98.33 per barrel in New York on Friday.

Brent crude was down 35 cents at $109.51 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Foreign firms, hungry to cash in on the American energy boom, have invested nearly $6 billion in U.S. gas and oil drilling in the last few weeks.

Energy giants from China, France and Spain have snapped up stakes in fields in Ohio, Mississippi, Colorado and Michigan.

These investments will likely add to the recent boom in U.S. natural gas production, pushing already low natural gas prices even lower.

Low domestic prices could drive natural gas producers to seek out European and Asian markets, according to analysts, where the fuel commands three or four times the price.

“Of course that will” lead to more exports, said Nansen Saleri, president of the oil field consulting firm Quantum Reservoir Impact. “And it will be a tremendous opportunity.”

ATLANTA (CNN) — Gas prices in the United States increased by more than a dime over the past three weeks, the first increase seen since mid-October, according to a survey published Sunday.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.35 as of Friday, the Lundberg Survey found. That’s an increase of 12 cents from the last survey of 2011, conducted December 16.

“The price hike comes from higher crude oil prices, which pulled up wholesale gasoline prices, but retailers have yet to pass through to motorists all the hikes they received,” publisher Trilby Lundberg said.

NEW YORK — For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world’s biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel.

Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn’t even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America’s top export was aircraft.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — 554 days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, BP is back in action in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company announced Wednesday that it had earned its first permit to drill for oil in the Gulf since last year’s oil spill disaster, and says that a resumption of drilling is imminent.

“The current situation there is we have a drilling rig on-site, and we intend to begin drilling the well as soon as operationally possible,” said Tom Mueller, a spokesman for BP.

The drill site is located about 250 miles southwest of New Orleans, in the “Kaskida Field”, and plans call for a total of five wells. BP had already drilled one exploration well and one appraisal well at the site before the Deepwater Horizon spill and the subsequent moratorium on drilling in the Gulf.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Even with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi dead, analysts say it will likely take years for the country’s oil production to return to full capacity.

It’s thought that Libya is producing about 350,000 barrels of oil per day, up from near zero during the depths of the conflict earlier this year.

Most of this oil goes to Europe, given its proximity and the previous longstanding U.S. embargo against the dictatorship. Italy’s Eni (E) is the largest operator in the country.

Libya could probably double its current production relatively quickly, which at current prices might fetch $80 million or so daily on the open market. But a return to its prewar output of 1.6 million barrels a day, which could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, is slow and complicated work.

Volkswagen is recalling 168,275 Audis, Golfs and Jettas for problems with the fuel line that could lead to leakage and perhaps ignite a fire, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Thursday.

In documents filed with NHTSA, Volkswagen said the fuel line in the recalled vehicles could develop cracks and leak under certain conditions. Because the leaks could happen near an ignition source, there’s the potential for a fire, VW said.

It said the models affected include:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The last Ford Crown Victoria rolled off a Canadian assembly line Thursday, marking the end of the big, heavy Ford cars that have been popular with taxi fleets and police departments for decades.

Since 1979, almost 10 million Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Cars — so-called Panther Platform vehicles — have been sold.

Demand for better fuel economy and performance have choked off sales over the years. The Crown Victoria and Town Car get just 24 miles per gallon on the highway, a figure matched by some large three-row SUVs today.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The price of U.S. oil has dropped nearly 25% since hitting its highs this spring, yet gasoline is down just 10%. So a big drop should be coming, right?

Sorta. Drivers can expect a bit of relief at the pump over the next few months, but they shouldn’t look for too big a discount.

Many Americans have become conditioned to expect a sharp drop in gasoline prices in the fall as Labor Day, the traditional end to the summer driving season, approaches and as the nation shifts to less expensive “winter gas.” Because cooler air is less conducive to smog formation, “winter gas” doesn’t need to be refined as much.

NEW YORK — Oil prices around the world should start falling if Libyan rebels succeed in toppling Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, though the full effect won’t be felt for months.

Crude prices fell on Monday on hopes that Libya would soon resume oil output. A grim outlook for the economy also helped depress crude prices and sent gold soaring to a new record high of $1,900 an ounce.

Rebels overran a large part of Tripoli after a quick advance as defense of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime collapsed . Gadhafi’s whereabouts were unknown while two of his sons were captured by rebels.

Benchmark Brent crude prices wilted as Italy’s foreign minister said oil company ENI has already sent staff back to the country to look into the restart of production.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Oil prices are falling once again, and relief at the gas pump is likely on the way too.

But be careful what you wish for. Low gas prices can sometimes be more a symptom of a weakening economy, than a cure to consumers’ woes.

Crude oil briefly dipped below $80 a barrel on Friday, about 30% below its peak at $113.90 in April.

Meanwhile, gasoline prices — which often fall one to two weeks after oil — were at a national average of $3.59 a gallon Friday. Gas is likely to decline to around $3.50 a gallon in the next week, estimates Chris Lafakis, economist with Moody’s Economy.com.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A judge on Friday threw out Obama administration rules that sought to slow down expedited environmental review of oil and gas drilling on federal land.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal ruled in favor of a petroleum industry group, the Western Energy Alliance, in its lawsuit against the federal government, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

The ruling reinstates Bush-era expedited oil and gas drilling under provisions called categorical exclusions on federal lands nationwide, Freudenthal said.