Crude oil fluctuated after Ireland’s bailout failed to ease concern that the region’s debt crisis may spread, hindering economic growth and reducing fuel demand. Oil climbed as much as 1.1 percent after Ireland agreed to a package that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates may total 95 billion euros ($130 billion). Prices dropped as Moody’s Investors Service said the rescue by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund may increase the debt burden and pose a “credit negative” for the country. “We rose earlier on optimism about the Irish bailout,” said Tom Bentz, a broker with BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc. in New York. “Now there are some question marks about the situation, and the optimism has faded.” Crude oil for January delivery fell 17 cents to $81.81 a barrel at 9:05 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil for January settlement rose 13 cents to $84.47 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The aid package will “crystallize more bank-contingent liabilities on the government balance sheet, and increase the Irish sovereign’s debt burden,” Dietmar Hornung, Moody’s senior credit officer, said in an e-mailed note today. Hedge funds cut bullish bets on oil by the most in almost three months. Large speculators reduced so-called long positions, or wagers on rising prices, by 15 percent in the seven days ended Nov. 16, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly report Nov. 19. To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net

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