London: Crude oil fell to near $76 (Dh279.07) a barrel on concern that Europe's bailout of almost $1 trillion may not be sufficient to end the region's sovereign debt crisis.
Oil reversed an increase of as much as 0.8 per cent after the euro dropped against the dollar and investors questioned whether the European plan will reduce deficits accumulated by Greece, Spain and Portugal. US crude supplies probably rose for the 14th time in 15 weeks, reinforcing concern that demand in the world's biggest consumer is lagging.
"Greece and other macro aspects are dominating the market, leading to higher risk aversion," said Hannes Loacker, an analyst at Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich in Vienna. "For the time being we'll stay below $80, but with US product demand improving we should go back above it within two months."
Crude oil for June delivery fell as much as 70 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $76.10 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $75.99 as of 9.22 am London time. Brent crude oil for June settlement was at $79.35 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Leaders of the 16 European nations using the single currency agreed on Monday to lend as much as 750 billion euros (Dh3 trillion) to the most-indebted member countries. The euro declined to $1.2729 as of 9.21am in London from $1.2787 in New York on Monday, when it reached $1.3094, the highest level since May 4.
