Oil rose above $80 a barrel Monday in Asia, the Associated Press reported. Benchmark oil for August delivery was up 48 cents at $80.24 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.56 to settle at $79.76 in New York on Friday. In London, Brent crude for August delivery was up 36 cents at $91.34 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Tropical Storm Debby, with top sustained winds of about 60 mph (95 kph), is lashing Florida and Alabama with heavy rains and is expected to come ashore later this week over the Florida Panhandle. As of Sunday morning, 23 percent of oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico region had been suspended, according to a government hurricane response team. Employees have been evacuated from 13 drilling rigs and 61 production platforms in the Gulf.
