Oil prices go down as U.S. political leaders battle over federal budgetSeptember 30, 2013 - 09:45 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Oil prices were lower Monday, Sept 30, amid jitters as a battle loomed in Washington among U.S. political leaders over a federal budget needed to avoid a partial shutdown of the government, the Associated Press reports. Benchmark oil for November delivery fell $1.32 to $101.55 per barrel at early afternoon Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 16 cents to close at $102.87 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday. The U.S. government will reach its borrowing limit, or debt ceiling, on Tuesday. If Congress doesn't raise that limit, the government won't be able to pay all its bills and some 800,000 of the 2.1 million federal employees will not go to work. A lasting solution seems far off as the White House and Republican lawmakers still disagree sharply on spending cuts and other key budget issues. "The economy will slow down, confidence will slide and demand for crude will be hurt. There will be a real snowball effect if the partial shutdown goes ahead," said Evan Lucas, analyst with IG in Melbourne. Goldman Sachs estimated that a three-week shutdown would slow the economy's annual growth rate in the October-December quarter by up to 0.9 percentage point. If so, the growth rate next quarter would be a scant 1.6 percent, compared with market expectations of a 2.5 percent growth. Oil has already fallen for three straight weeks as diplomatic efforts surrounding Syria and Iran eased concerns about Middle East supplies. Brent crude, the benchmark for international crudes used by many U.S. refineries, fell 87 cents to $107.76 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Related links: 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 | Turkey extends military presence in Azerbaijan The Turkish parliament has adopted a bill submitted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to extend the mandate of Turkish troops. Russia to begin assessing migrant workers' speaking skills Rosobrnadzor is planning to change the Russian language exam for migrant workers and include an assessment of speaking skills Armenian, Saudi Foreign Minister meet in Riyadh The two commended the positive dynamics of the development of political dialogue between Armenia and Saudi Arabia Pashinyan: Azerbaijan’s proximity shouldn’t worry border residents At the same time, he said that he “does not guarantee [the security of villagers] one hundred percent”. |