Oil prices today dropped below $99 a barrel amid worries about the eurozone’s debt crisis and expectations OPEC will keep its output quotas unchanged.
By early afternoon in Europe,benchmark crude for January delivery was down $1.70 to $98.44 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $2.37 to settle at $100.14 yesterday.
In London,Brent crude was down $1.51 to $107.99 on the ICE Futures exchange.
Concerns about the European debt crisis,coupled with indications that the economies using the euro were inching closer to recession,put pressure on the common currency,which fell below the noteworthy barrier of $1.30 in today’s trading.
The euro was down to $1.2987 from $1.3043 late yesterday in New York as the dollar gained momentum as a safe haven. A stronger dollar usually pushes down oil prices by making crude more expensive for investors trading in other currencies.