Crude Oil Rise To $93.47 per Barrel

U.S. oil prices rose modestly Monday, boosted hopes that the controversy over the tax included in the depositors of the bank rescue Cyprus by the EU-IMF would be limited impact on the broader economy.

Benchmark U.S. light sweet crude or West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April, rose 29 cents to settle at U.S. $ 93.74 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May settled at 109.51 dollars, down 31 cents.

Crude oil prices spent most of the morning in negative territory as news of the bailout plan (bailout) Cyprus seeps through the market.

The euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday agreed on a bailout of 10 billion euros (13 billion dollars), but under the deal, the depositors in banks Cyprus may be taxed one time as much as 9.9 percent to help boost government coffers.

Oil and other financial markets moved sharply lower on fears that the controversy over the tax could spark new turmoil in the eurozone.

However, oil prices "rebound" (turned up) while EU officials hinted the tax could be modified to reduce the burden on small depositors, and as analysts concluded that Cyprus is not big enough to have a significant impact on the European and global economy.

"The market began to digest the fact that Cyprus is a very small part of the European economy," said Gene McGillian, broker and analyst at Tradition Energy.

Bill Baruch in iiTrader said the move was "concentrated" in Cyprus only and will not spread to other countries in Europe, as some had feared.

Carl Larry, a broker at Atlas Commodities LLC, said the U.S. oil benchmark outperformed the European oil benchmark for superior prospects for the U.S. economy.

"We have good prospects here in the U.S. for oil demand," said Larry.