Oil fell from a three-day high on concern Greece’s steps to avert a financial collapse may fall short, threatening Europe’s economy and demand for fuel. Futures dropped as much as 0.8 percent before a deadline for Greece to accept terms demanded by international lenders on a bailout package. Brent oil’s premium to West Texas Intermediate widened an eighth day after militants in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude producer, attacked and damaged a pipeline belonging to a unit of Italy’s Eni SpA. “The potential now is for disappointment out of Europe,� said Michael McCarthy, a chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty in Sydney. “I suspect this one is going to drag on a fair bit. This echoes the very disappointing rhetoric we’ve heard out of Europe many times before.� Futures for March delivery slid as much as 78 cents to $97.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and were at $97.43 at 11:54 a.m. Singapore time. The contract rose $1.48 to $97.84 on Feb. 3, the highest close since Jan. 31. Prices are up 11 percent the past year. Brent oil for March settlement fell 1 cent to $114.57 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract traded at $17.14 more than WTI, the widest gap based on closing prices since Nov. 9. The difference was a record $27.88 on Oct. 14. Greece Talks Greek political-party leaders must provide a first response to the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund on economic measures by 11 a.m. local time today, a spokesman for the biggest party, Pasok, told reporters in Athens. Prime Minister Lucas Papademos struck a tentative deal to extend spending cuts after euro-area finance chiefs told party leaders an increase in a 130 billion-euro ($170 billion) aid package wasn’t forthcoming. In Nigeria, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it carried out a Feb. 4 attack on Eni’s pipeline in the oil-rich south of the country. Eni lost about 4,000 barrels a day of equity production, the Rome-based company said in an e- mailed statement yesterday. Attacks by militant groups in the delta cut Nigeria’s crude output by more than 28 percent from 2006 to 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. To contact the reporter on this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi in Singapore at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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