Prices of oil futures fell to a one-week low

The price of oil fell sharply, reaching in this week's low, driven by comments from the ECB, which is said to lower forecasts for economic growth in the euro area, as well as the background of the fact that U.S. lawmakers tried to reach an agreement on a budget plan.

Futures fell by 2.3%, as ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank now projects that the economy will shrink by 0.5% this year, compared with the initial estimate of 0.4%, which was reported in September. Note that the reduction of the forecast growth and the ECB Draghi statement that economic weakness may continue adding concern over the situation in Europe.

At the same time, the Congressional Budget Office has stated that the U.S. economy will be reduced by as much as 0.5% next year, if Congress can not reach an agreement on the prevention of "financial failure."

We also recall that, according to information from BP Plc, last year at the U.S. accounted for 21% of world oil consumption, while in the 27 member countries of the European Union accounted for only 16%.

Meanwhile, tomorrow the oil price rise due to political tensions in the Middle East, where one third of the focus of world oil production. Recall that on December 3 Obama warned the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad not to use or distribute its stockpile of chemical weapons. In addition, U.S. officials saw evidence that the country is ready for battle, and perhaps could use such weapons to reflect the occurrence of militants.

January futures price of U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) fell to 86.05 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

January futures price of North Sea petroleum mix of mark Brent fell $ 1.59 to 107.20 dollars a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.