The price of US oil fell to near $95 a barrel today after US industrial production weakened and Europe remained mired in recession.
Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 25 cents to $95.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract fell $1.45 to finish at $95.86 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday.
Brent crude, used to price many varieties of foreign oil, rose 14 cents to $117.80 a barrel in London.
The US Federal Reserve said on Friday that US factory production slowed in January, mostly because of a big drop in output at car factories. Most analysts think the slowdown is temporary, but it was enough to raise concern about the still-sluggish economic recovery.
Traders were also concerned about a deepening recession across the euro zone economy. The area's combined economic output shrank by 0.6% in the final quarter of 2012 from the previous three-month period. The decline was bigger than the 0.4% drop expected and the steepest fall since 2009.
