Oil prices barely change ahead of U.S. employment figures releaseApril 5, 2013 - 10:35 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Oil prices were barely changed Friday, April 5, ahead of the release of employment figures that traders hope will shed light on the state of the U.S. economy, The Associated Press reports. Benchmark oil for May delivery was down 5 cents to $93.21 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.19 to finish at $93.26 on Thursday after U.S. data showed an increase in the number of people seeking jobless benefits. That raised the possibility of reduced energy demand as fewer people traveling to work would lower demand for gasoline. Traders are now awaiting a key employment report for March that the Labor Department will release later Friday. The U.S. economy added a robust 236,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent. The prospect of slowing demand comes on top of the burgeoning supply of oil in the U.S. and both are keeping a lid on oil prices. On Wednesday, the Energy Department said crude oil inventories rose last week to the highest level since July 1990. Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, rose 4 cents to $106.38 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. 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 | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Ucom General Director gives lecture at French University in Armenia The General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian delivered a lecture at the French University of Armenia. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. |