Crude mixed in Asia as EU worries weigh

SINGAPORE — Crude prices were mixed in Asia Tuesday with markets rattled by worries that a European Union deal on curbing the eurozone’s debt crisis was not far-reaching enough, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, was up eight cents to $97.85 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery shed six cents to $107.20.

An EU deal last week on closer economic coordination between member states failed to reassure traders that an end to the eurozone crisis was in sight, Phillip Futures said in a report.

“A European summit agreement last week to strengthen budget discipline in the eurozone failed to restore financial market confidence,” it stated.

“Crude oil prices… [were] pressured by concerns that Europe’s agreement on closer fiscal union will not solve its debt crisis and might deepen a regional slowdown,” the report added.

Markets were watching for Wednesday’s output meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the cartel which pumps about one-third of the world’s oil, for indications on its production goals.

OPEC production hit its highest level in three years in November — 27.94 million barrel a day — 800,000 barrels higher than the previous month, according to the Middle East Economic Survey.