Oil prices up on brisk US Xmas sales, Greek deal

BANGKOK (AP) -- Robust retail sales in the U.S. ahead of the Christmas holiday helped boost the price of oil above $88 a barrel on Tuesday.

Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 32 cents to $88.06 per barrel at late afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 54 cents to close at $87.74 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday.

Holiday shopping in the U.S. got off to a brisk start over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend, with a record 247 million shoppers visiting stores and websites — a 9.2 percent increase over last year. Total spending over the four-day weekend totaled $59.1 billion, up 12.8 percent from 2011.

And it's not over. Americans took to the Web for "Cyber Monday," what is typically the biggest online shopping day of the year. Shoppers were expected to spend a record $1.5 billion.

Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions said all that gift-buying bodes well for energy demand, which in turn pushes up prices.

"All of these goods being purchased start out at point A and eventually have to get to point B. That means more cargo jets, more trucks delivering good to stores and more consumers driving to get to them," Larry said in a market commentary.

Traders were also relieved that negotiations over the next installment on Greece's bailout proved successful. Greece will get the cash it needs to pay its bills while negotiators from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund came together on a deal to reduce the country's debt load.

Brent crude, which is used to set prices for many international varieties of oil, rose 24 cents to $111.16 a barrel in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline rose 0.6 cents to $2.71 a gallon.

— Natural gas gained 0.3 cent to $3.733 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Heating oil rose 0.9 cent to $3.068 a gallon.

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