Oil prices fall ahead of U.S. arrives at ‘fiscal cliff’ deadlineDecember 24, 2012 - 09:24 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Oil prices fell Monday, Dec 24, just eight days before the U.S. arrives at the "fiscal cliff" deadline without a budget agreement in place. If no deal is reached by Jan. 1, steep tax increases and government spending cuts will automatically take effect that will jar the U.S. economy and potentially throw it into recession, economists have warned. Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 14 cents to $88.52 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.47 Friday to finish at $88.66 per barrel in New York, the contract's lowest point in three weeks. It dropped to $87.96 per barrel at one point Friday. Oil prices tend to drop when a major world economy is threatened by a downturn, which more often than not leads to reduced demand for energy. It was little more than a week ago when news emerged that President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner had significantly narrowed their differences and appeared within striking distance of an agreement. Since then, however, negotiations have stalled with Obama and Congress on a short holiday break. Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, fell 6 cents to $108.91 per barrel in London. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Pasadena to host Armenian Genocide commemoration event The Pasadena Armenian Coalition will host its community-wide Armenian Genocide Commemorative Event. Armenia: Opposition activist transferred to Investigative Committee Activist Samvel Vardanyan has been accused of insulting the lawmaker Hakob Aslanyan from the ruling Civil Contract party. Russia confirms start of withdrawal of peacekeepers from Karabakh The Kremlin has confirmed reports about the start of the withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping forces in Karabakh. France recalls its ambassador to Azerbaijan France on April 16 said it had recalled for consultations the French ambassador to Azerbaijan. |