Oil slips toward $91 on weak US data

SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : World oil prices dropped back near $91 mark in Asian trade Friday after reports of slower than expected recovery for the US economy.

Light sweet crude for February delivery was seen trading at $91.06 a barrel at 12.30 p.m Singapore time while Brent crude was at $98.37 a barrel in London.

Analysts said oil markets reacted negatively to a US Labor Department report that more people filed for unemployment aid last week in the U.S., tempering optimism that a strong economic recovery is under way.

They said traders aren’t confident that a slowly recovering U.S. economy will be enough to push crude above $100 soon.

In other Nymex trading in February contracts, heating oil rose 0.8 cent to $2.62 a gallon while gasoline futures gained 1.1 cents to $2.46 per gallon. February natural gas futures was steady at $4.41 per 1,000 cubic feet.

On Thursday, US crude oil futures fell on Thursday as US weekly initial unemployment claims showed the biggest increase in six months.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 46 cents to $91.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

London's Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February climbed as high as $98.67 per barrel in afternoon deals, but later fell back to $98.06, a drop of six cents from the day before.