Crude oil steady Tuesday

Crude oil prices gave up 19 cents Tuesday, slipping to $85.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 0.22 percent. Traders were digesting news EU officials were still debating how to allow Greece the next disbursement of an international loan. The Greek Parliament, meanwhile, passed a new round of austerity measures during the weekend. To balance that out, equities were down broadly in Asia and Europe. In commodity trading in New York, gasoline prices shed 2.25 cents to $2.6538 a gallon. Home heating oil gave up 2.84 cents to $2.9608. Natural gas prices rose to $3.74 per million British thermal units, the price pulling away from Monday's drop, which was prompted by an Energy Information Administration report that pegged natural gas supplies at an 11-month high. At the pump, the national average price of unleaded gasoline rose to $3.44 per gallon from Monday's $3.437, AAA said.