By Virginia Harrison and William L. Watts, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures turned lower in electronic trade Tuesday amid continuing worries about the euro-zone sovereign- debt crisis.
July futures for light sweet crude CLN2 -0.07% fell 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $83.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The move came as the dollar gained ground and the euro retreated after remarks by Spain’s Treasury minister highlighted worries about the euro-zone debt crisis.
Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro told a Spanish radio broadcaster that the high risk premium demanded to hold Spanish government debt “says that as a state we have a problem in accessing markets, when we want to refinance our debt,” Reuters reported.
Finance ministers and central-bank governors from the Group of Seven major economies are due to hold an emergency conference call later today, and are expected intensify calls for more policy support to address Europe’s debt troubles.
Europe’s troubled economy and the potential spread of its debt problems have been among the factors pressuring crude prices in recent weeks.
On the supply front, the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly inventory data on Tuesday, followed by the more closely watched U.S. Energy Information Administration’s report on Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Platts forecast a drop of just above 1 million barrels for the week ended June 1.
Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
William L. Watts is MarketWatch's European bureau chief, based in Frankfurt.
