World oil prices higher in Asia

In late Monday morning trade, New York's main contract, light sweet crude oil for delivery in February, was 41 cents higher at 90.98 dollars a barrel.

The contract closed 44 cents lower at 90.57 dollars a barrel on Friday, a loss of more than two dollars over the week.

With floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday, Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Astmax asset management in Tokyo, said the market's direction was insignificant.

He said markets had discounted Bush's call Friday for Congress to act quickly on a stimulus plan worth around USD 140 billion to revive the world's biggest economy, which some fear is on the brink of recession.

A severe slowdown would likely dampen demand for oil.

"People are still worrying (about) the oil demand in the US," Emori said.

Brent North Sea crude for March delivery was 39 cents higher at 89.62 dollars a barrel after rising 48 cents in London on Friday.

In the past two weeks, the benchmark crude prices have tumbled nearly 10 per cent from record highs set in early January: 100.09 dollars in New York and 98.50 dollars in London. - DDNEWS