Reply #2: Oil prices rise to near $90 a barrel (traders angling to get their share of that "rebate")

[ozymandius]

BANGKOK, Thailand - Oil futures rose Friday in Asia to extend a gain of more than $2 a barrel after U.S. leaders agreed to a stimulus plan in an effort to avert a major slowdown in the world's largest economy.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 39 cents to $89.80 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore. The contract gained $2.42 to settle at $89.41 a barrel in the floor session.

Prices were also boosted Thursday after the U.S. government reported a drop in heating oil supplies.

But the overnight gains really accelerated — with oil posting its largest rise in over three weeks — on word that the Bush administration and Congressional leaders had reached an agreement on an economic stimulus package.
.....

Meanwhile, the weekly inventory report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration showed stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 1.3 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had said, on average, distillate supplies would remain unchanged.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices