Oil above $99 as Greece aid deal reached

LONDON — Oil prices hovered above toward $99 a barrel Friday after European leaders reached an aid deal aimed at stanching Greece's financial crisis.

Benchmark oil for September delivery was flat at $99.13 a barrel by midafternoon European time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose 73 cents on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude rose 24 cents to $117.75 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

European officials agreed to give Greece a second rescue package worth €109 billion ($155 billion) at an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday. They also boosted their rescue fund to make sure the crisis doesn't spread.

Equity markets rallied strongly, particularly in Europe, on hopes that the deal will prove a turning point.

Crude prices were also given a boost by the International Energy Agency's decision not to release more oil.

The IEA said June 23 that it would release 60 million barrels of oil in a bid to lower prices, and traders speculated this week that the group was planning to send more barrels to the market.

"Greater optimism on containing sovereign debt issues, combined with an apparent backing away on the part of the IEA from an immediate further stock release, offers the opportunity for prices to break out of their recent range to the upside," Barclays Capital said in a report.

In other Nymex trading in September contracts, heating oil rose 1 cent to $3.13 a gallon while gasoline gained 2 cents at $3.07 a gallon. Natural gas futures for August delivery advanced 3 cents at $4.40 per 1,000 cubic feet.