Oil Prices Drop after G20 Fail to Lift Confidence
Oil prices ended lower Monday after the Group of 20 meeting in Paris on the weekend failed to solidify market confidence in the global growth picture and Europe's financial soundness.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, fell 42 cents from Friday's close to finish at $86.38 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December shed $2.06 to settle at $110.16 a barrel in London trade.
Sucden analyst Myrto Sokou said markets will focus this week on whether European leaders can deliver progress on a comprehensive solution to the Eurozone debt crisis.
"It is quite a crucial week for the markets," Sokou said.
"However, the main focus will switch to the European leaders summit in Brussels on October 23, for the decision on a comprehensive plan to contain the crisis in the region."
Germany sought to dampen expectations for Sunday's European Union summit in Brussels, with government spokesman Stefan Seibert warning that "dreams that everything will be resolved and dealt with by next Monday cannot be fulfilled."
On Monday Norway's Statoil announced it would buy U.S. company Brigham Exploration for $4.7 billion, allowing it to significantly expand its non-conventional oil and gas extraction activities in the United States.
The purchase will give Statoil access to shale oil fields in the Bakken and Three Forks formations in North Dakota and Montana, among the largest oil accumulations in the United States, Statoil said.
Meanwhile, India's Reliance Industries is to suspend oil and gas exploration drilling pending a reassessment with its new venture partner BP, a company source told Agence France Presse on Monday.
"With BP as our strategic partner it makes sense to do a fresh review of our portfolio and come back with a new strategy," the source said.
Reliance recently sold BP a 30 percent stake in 21 of its oil and gas fields off the Indian coast in a $7.2 billion deal.
The Indian firm on Saturday said that its second-quarter net profit jumped nearly 16 percent to 57.03 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) from 49.23 billion rupees in the same period a year ago.
Reliance shares have fallen nearly 27 percent this year due to concerns over falling output from the D6 gas fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin off eastern India.
