OIL PRICES SLUGGIH!!!

Oil prices dipped Friday as disappointing U.S. manufacturing and retail sales data suggested a sluggish economic start to 2014, outweighing supply disruptions in Libya and Angola.

U.S. crude ended the session down 5 cents at $100.30. The contract ended the week almost flat after a four-week rally, fueled by signs of diminishing stockpiles in the U.S. Midwest, that drove prices above $101 a barrel for the first time since October.

On Friday the focus shifted to the U.S. economy after data showed manufacturing output fell in January by the largest margin in more than 4-1/2 years due to severely cold weather. That data overshadowed better than expected consumer sentiment.

Coupled with retail sales that unexpectedly dropped in January and a spike in jobless claims reported Thursday, the new data raised doubts over growth in the world's biggest economy and dulled expectations for higher growth in demand.

Brent crude was boosted by forecasts for tightened supply due to interruptions in Libya and Angola. The contract traded up 50 cents above $109 a barrel.

USA oil boom will not lower prices??

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Oil tanker at the Port of Long Beach, Calif.

The United States is awash in oil, yet analysts at RBC Capital Markets don't expect that to pull benchmark crude prices much lower.

In its five-year outlook, published Thursday, RBC analysts said soaring U.S. production will be absorbed by the rest of the world "with only modest price impact" over the next year. The world's largest economy is churning out record amounts of crude, and is mulling whether to export some of it abroad—something it hasn't done in decades.

Last month, the Energy Information Administration said the U.S. would pump huge amounts of oil and natural gas through at least 2016, with annual crude production challenging the 1970 record of 9.6 million barrels per day.

U.s . Crude on the rise!!!

U.S. crude futures rose in early Asian trading on Thursday, recovering from a six week-low in the previous session when a large build in crude stockpiles at the contract's delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma, weighed on the market.

U.S crude for February delivery was up 21 cents at $92.54 per barrel by 0037 GMT, after settling $1.34 lower on Wednesday.

Crude stocks at the oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, rose 1.1 million barrels in the week to Jan. 3, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday.