NEW YORK, Dec. 3 -- Crude oil prices rose slightly on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday morning following an OPEC request to have Russia and others join their ranks.

Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, urged Russia, Norway and Mexico to join the group or cut production voluntarily, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

"What we really want is for these countries to become members of OPEC," Khelil said.

Crude oil prices gained 6 cents overnight to $47.02 per barrel. But prices have fallen 68 percent from the July peak price of $147.27 per barrel.

In October, OPEC members cut production quotas by 1.5 million barrels a day to try to head off the price declines.

Heating oil prices fell overnight, down 0.0059 cents to $1.5773 per gallon. Reformulated blendstock gasoline fell 0.0107 cents to $1.0476 per gallon. Natural gas prices fell
0.054 cents to $6.37 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline fell for the 76th straight day, falling 0.009 cents to $1.803 a gallon, AAA said.(UPI)