The restart of refineries in the storm-hit northeastern United States gave a small boost to crude oil prices on Thursday. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for December delivery was up 14 cents to $86.38 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 56 cents to finish at $86.24 a barrel in New York. Because refineries use and process crude oil, their reopening nudged up the price for the commodity. Nine oil refineries that make up 8 percent of U.S. refining capacity sit in the region hit by Superstorm Sandy. Nearly all were affected by the storm, but all but two ... (full story)