Oil dropped

Oil dropped from the highest level in four months in New York as European finance ministers were set to meet today to discuss the region’s debt crisis and as U.S. lawmakers vote this week on budget measures.

West Texas Intermediate futures slid as much as 0.5 percent, declining for the first time in four days. House Republicans will use the planned Jan. 23 vote on a debt-ceiling increase to try to force Senate Democrats to outline their spending plans. Finance ministers in Brussels will assess Spain, Greece and Cyprus and debate how to enact policies they promised to subdue the region’s crisis.

Finance ministers are debating whether the 500 billion euro ($666 billion) European Stability Mechanism should take over earlier bank bailouts that were routed through governments, and what to do with so-called legacy assets. A European Union aide who briefed reporters defined those as loans already on a bank’s balance sheet that could later cause difficulties.

WTI crude for February delivery, which expires tomorrow, fell as much as 51 cents to $95.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more active March contract was down 46 cents at $95.58. Front-month futures rose 7 cents on Jan. 18 to the highest close since Sept. 17.

With floor trading closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the average volume of all WTI contracts was 80 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for March settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange dropped as much as 48 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $111.41 a barrel.