Oil above $93, making muted rebound from big lossesSeptember 21, 2012 - 13:56 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Oil climbed above $93 a barrel Friday, Sept 21 in Asia, making a muted rebound from big losses in the past week as indicators point to a weak global economy, AP reports. Benchmark crude was up 94 cents at $93.36 a barrel at midafternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Before today's rise, oil had fallen 7 percent since last Friday, when the price briefly topped $100 per barrel for the first time in 4 months. The sharp drop was expected and overdue, many analysts say. Traders had driven oil prices up by 30 percent since late June in anticipation of new measures from the world's central banks to boost economic growth. This week they woke up to some cold hard facts: there's no easy fix for the global economy, demand for oil is slowing and there's plenty of supply. Economies around the world are struggling, including the three biggest oil consuming regions: the U.S., China and Europe. When economic growth falters, demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel falls as people travel less and ship fewer goods. At the same time, world oil supplies are plentiful. Production in the U.S., Canada, Iraq and Saudi Arabia has increased enough to make up for losses from Iran, Venezuela and elsewhere. The U.S. government reported this week that stocks of oil grew by 8.5 million barrels to 367.6 million barrels, which is 8.4 percent higher than last year. Brent crude was up 75 cents at $110.78 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London. In other energy futures trading on Nymex, wholesale gasoline rose 2.2 cents to $2.803 a gallon and heating oil added 2 cents to $3.113 a gallon. Natural gas gained 1.1 cent to $2.808 per 1,000 cubic feet. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Pashinyan’s spokesperson denies intention to visit Baku for COP29 Pashinyan’s agenda doesn’t include a trip to Baku for the COP29 conference, his press secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan has said. Russia accuses West of preparing invasion of CSTO countries NATO is preparing an invasion of the CSTO countries, the number of provocations in the air is growing, Sergei Shoigu has said. Lithuania sending €100,000 to help Armenia fight floods consequences Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took to social media to thank his Lithuanian counterpart for the contribution. Armenia: Rescue workers restore pedestrian bridge for flood-hit community Rescue workers on Wednesday, June 5 restored a pedestrian bridge in the town of Alaverdi in Armenia’s north. |