London: Oil slipped under $114 a barrel yesterday as traders and investors worried that a failure to agree a deal with Greece for a second bailout would suppress demand in the Eurozone, but renewed tensions with Iran kept a floor under prices.
"There's still not much confidence over the Eurozone economies, and that is limiting upside from strong US data and the tensions in Iran," said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity derivatives manager with Newedge Brokerage in Tokyo.
Front-month Brent crude was down 85 cents to $113.73 a barrel by 0948 GMT, ending four straight days of gains.
Brent rose 2.8 per cent last week to settle near a three-month peak on Friday, after a positive US jobs report fuelled hopes of stronger demand in the world's biggest economy.
US crude was down 77 cents at $97.07 a barrel, after posting a loss of 1.73 per cent last week.
It is being hindered by stock builds at the key delivery point of Cushing and very mild winter weather which is reducing US demand for heating oil.
Analysts and traders said the retracement in Brent reflected profit-taking after Friday's leap due to surprisingly robust US non-farm payroll data and concerns going into the weekend about supply disruption from Iran and Syria.
"We're now near the top of the trading range, and unless we take out this $115 there is a risk of further profit-taking," said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
