Oil prices eased on Friday after soaring on news that key energy consumer the United States has emerged from a long and painful recession.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, slid 16 cents to 79.71 dollars a barrel, after touching 80.21 dollars in earlier Asian trade.

Brent North Sea crude for December eased 29 cents to 77.75 dollars.

Oil rebounded sharply on Thursday as traders welcomed news that the US returned to economic growth in the third quarter after a year of contraction.

The US has now followed France, Germany and Japan in exiting recession following the worst global economic downturn since the 1930s.

The biggest economy in the world grew at a seasonally adjusted 3.5 percent in the September quarter, beating forecasts for 3.2 percent.

The rise was also the biggest since the 2007 third quarter, when the US subprime or higher-risk mortgage market sparked a global financial crisis that dragged the world economy into a steep downturn.

"Surprisingly good economic figures from the US ... were the catalyst behind the increase," said analysts at the JBC Energy consultancy in Vienna.

However, they also warned that "oil still looks to be overpriced and an increase in GDP after four quarters of decreases does not mean the US, or the rest of the world, is out of the woods yet."

The US is the world's biggest energy consumer and the health of its economy and the consumption patterns of Americans are major influences.

Crude prices tumbled from record highs above 147 dollars in July 2008 to around 30 dollars in December on falling demand due to the recession. They have since clawed back ground on mounting hopes of a tentative global economic recovery.

"The US third quarter GDP results were very positive and some of the early concerns about the pace of economic recovery therefore eased," said Victor Shum, senior principal at energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

"Oil is hanging around 80 dollars and traders are now looking for more economic data to confirm this positive GDP result."

Shum said that fragile global demand and oversupply meant that oil's inability to sustain prices above 80 dollars was unsurprising.

"Oil at this pricing level is on shaky ground," he said.