Oil rises in Asia

SINGAPORE: Oil was up in Asia Tuesday with traders buying cheaper crude after a tropical storm spared production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and eurozone worries resurfaced, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, added 12 cents to $79.33 and Brent North Sea crude for August delivery rose 30 cents to $91.31.

"Oil steadied... as short-covering countered easing concerns that Tropical Storm Debby would batter US production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico," Phillip Futures said in a report.

Debby, the first named storm to menace the Gulf of Mexico in the current Atlantic hurricane season, largely missed oil production facilities in the area despite forcing evacuations of rigs and platforms.

The miss had placed a dampener on oil markets as fears of a crude supply disruption from the region -- which constitutes 20 percent of US output -- eased, before bargain-hunting traders stepped in.

But Phillip Futures warned in their report that "investors were also cautious due to worries that the European Union (EU) summit this week would do little to calm market anxiety about the eurozone debt crisis."

European leaders attending the summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday are under intense global pressure to head off a potentially catastrophic economic collapse, with particular attention on debt crises in Greece and Spain.

Their task comes as Cyprus became the latest European nation to ask for a bailout, while Spain on Monday formally requested a banking rescue of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion).