Oil prices climb above $93 a barrel in Asia

Oil climbed above $93 a barrel Friday in Asia, making a muted rebound from the big loss sustained in the past week as indicators point to a weak global economy. Benchmark crude was up 65 cents at $93.07 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 said. 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. 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% higher than last year. Brent crude was up $1.04 at $111.09 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London.