Forexpros - Crude oil futures fell on Friday as investors fled the commodity in search of the dollar for safety on reports that Standard & Poor's is set to downgrade France.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD98.23 a barrel, down 0.87%.
The commodity hit an earlier session high of USD100.19 and a low of USD97.70 earlier Friday.
In Europe, media reports rolled in that Standard & Poor's has decided it will strip France of its AAA credit rating.
The move sent investors selling the euro and risk-on assets like stocks worldwide and rushing to the dollar in flight for safety.
Oil often trades inversely from the dollar.
"While it should be anti-climatic, the realization will also be sobering. In particular, the flight to the dollar will be accelerated, pushing crude oil prices lower," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York, according to Reuters.
Delays in Greece to finds ways to lower its debt burdens also pressured oil downward.
Outside of Europe, ongoing tensions between Iran and the west coupled with fears that strikes in Nigeria could disrupt global supply levels supported the price of oil, although fears of the French downgrade quickly doused bullish pressures.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery were down 1.07% and trading at USD110.05 a barrel, up USD11.82 from its U.S. counterpart.
The gap in price between the two contracts hovers on the higher end between a nearly USD20.00 all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.
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