Oil futures moved modestly higher in electronic trading Friday afternoon in Asia, as the market continued to gauge the prospects for oil and gasoline demand.

Natural-gas prices found support at $2.50 per million British thermal units after a 7.6% drop in New York on concerns about an oversupplied market.

Crude for October delivery added 32 cents to stand at $68.28 a barrel on Globex by late afternoon in Tokyo. It traded as low as $68.01. Oil prices dropped below $40 a barrel earlier this year, "which really shut down new drilling," said Charles Perry, president of energy-consulting firm Perry Management.

"Now depletion is lowering production pretty fast and supply is dropping pretty fast to equal current reduced demand," he said. "If demand picks up with a recovery of the economy, then there will be a shortage, and we will see another peak in oil prices."