Oil Prices Recovered to $91 After Sharp Decline

Oil prices rose Thursday after declining sharply in the previous session on an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week.

Crude oil stockpiles rose 4.3 million barrels last week, the first increase since the week ended Nov. 9, the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly inventory report Wednesday.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose 12 cents to $90.96 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.