Oil slips to $74

Oil prices slipped to $74 on Monday as concerns over Greece outweighed early optimism over Japanese growth. Public holidays in the United States and much of Asia kept trade thin and concentrated attention on the eurozone where European finance ministers were due to meet on Tuesday to discuss measures to help Greece overcome its debt crisis.
"It's ... an increasing awareness of risk and risk aversion," said Eugen Weinberg at Commerzbank. "The dollar has been strong through the whole day."
US crude for March delivery last traded 13 cents lower at $74 a barrel in electronic activity. There was no settlement price on Monday as floor activity on the New York Mercantile Exchange was closed due to the President's Day holiday in the United States.
London ICE Brent for April delivery settled down 39 cents at $72.51. Trade was quiet with prices moving in a very narrow 65-cent range. Crude fell for the first time in four days on Friday, shedding 1.5 percent after China's central bank moved to check the country's rapidly expanding economy, which is at the centre of rising demand for commodities.
Debt-stricken Greece faced down pressure from eurozone peers to step up budget cuts and stem a looming crisis in its debt markets, as Brussels again questioned its past reporting of public finances.
Earlier in the day, oil prices had peeped above $74 on perceptions demand could get a boost from Japan's economy, after figures showed it grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter, helped by government stimulus programmes. But Japan's demand for oil has been falling in recent months, as consumers and industry continue to shift to other forms of energy.
BP's chief economist, Christof Ruehl, told Reuters on Monday prices this year should hold to current ranges.
"We would expect oil prices for the remainder of the year in the current range, perhaps with a slight upwards drift but no dramatic spikes," Ruehl said at an industry conference in London. Oil has traded in a relatively tight $15 range between $69 and $84 a barrel since the beginning of October. At the peak of the financial crisis, oil crashed below $40 a barrel from a July 2008 record of almost $150, but expectations of an economic recovery have supported prices since then.