SINGAPORE, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - World oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday, shadowing 101 dollars in Asian trade after three days of losses on rising concerns that slowing global growth could dampen energy demand, dealers said.

In morning trade, New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose 15 cents to 101.13 dollars per barrel.

The contract closed at 100.98 dollars per barrel after earlier dipping as low as 99.55 dollars during floor trading on Tuesday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent North Sea crude for May rose 13 cents to 100.30 dollars a barrel after settling at 100.17 dollars per barrel on Tuesday in London, where prices had earlier tumbled as low as 98.99.

'Oil prices are holding steady, with marginal changes, as there has been no particular news' to affect the market, said David Moore, a commodities strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

The market was awaiting the weekly United States Department of Energy report on energy stockpiles due later Wednesday.

Crude oil prices had fallen since Friday when a US government report confirmed that the world's largest economy -- and its biggest energy consumer -- grew by a tepid 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of last year amid a widespread housing slump and a related credit squeeze.

New York crude slumped 4.04 dollars and London Brent dived 3.47 dollars on Monday.

Economic momentum has slowed despite interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. Since September, Fed policymakers have slashed the short-term federal funds rate to 2.25 percent from 5.25 percent in a bid to shore up growth.

'Recent volatile price action in oil reflects well its underlying fundamental tightness, with markets proving highly sensitive to the flow of information on the geopolitical front,' said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.

In Africa, a strike that paralysed production at Shell-Gabon and an oil terminal used by other companies since March 20 was called off late Tuesday after mediation by Gabonese President Omar Bongo between unions and management, both sides said.

The strike at the Gamba terminal had entirely halted production of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the Anglo-Dutch Shell giant, which owns it, as well as 30,000 bpd by other oil companies that share the facility.

Amid global supply disruptions, New York crude hit a record intraday high of 111.80 dollars on March 17 while London Brent scored a historic peak of 108.02 dollars earlier in March.