Oil prices turned lower in Asian trade Monday as concerns over the US government's debt problems dragged markets south, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, fell 13 cents to $97.11 per barrel in the afternoon.
Brent North Sea crude for September delivery slipped 36 cents to $116.90.
Persistent worries of a political impasse in the United States over its debt crisis continued to hang over crude prices, Shum said.
'The debt situation in the US is bearish for the oil market,' said Victor Shum, senior principal of Purvin and Gertz energy consultants in Singapore.
'The concern there has got to do with whether the Obama administration and Republican party will agree to move the US debt ceiling,' he stated.
On Sunday, a bipartisan Senate plan took shape to allow US president Barack Obama to avert a potentially catastrophic debt default in return for $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over a decade.
With two weeks to go until what Obama has termed economic 'Armageddon', the rival Senate leaders, Mitch McConnell of the Republicans and Harry Reid of the Democrats, were working on a complex path out of the crisis.
Source : New Age
