Oil below $97 as traders eye Greek debt talks Oil prices fell below $97 a barrel Monday on worries that talks on a Greek debt deal needed to avoid a disastrous default are proving difficult to conclude. By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for March delivery was down $1.03 to $96.81 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude was down 68 cents at $113.90 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Traders are concerned that Greece's political leaders may fail to agree on new austerity measures demanded by international bailout rescuers if the country is to receive more bailout loans. On Monday, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos will meet with negotiators from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund and then with the leaders of the three parties backing his coalition to discuss the austerity measures. "The continued undercurrent of uncertainty regarding the threat of Greek insolvency may lead to profit-taking, especially since the oil price is at the top end of the trading corridor we have seen in recent weeks," said a report from Commerzbank in Frankfurt. Last week, investors were cheered by evidence that the U.S. economy is creating jobs at a faster pace than previously expected, boosting oil prices. Escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear program, including concerns that a military attack by Israel against the Islamic Republic could be imminent, kept a floor under prices, especially Brent as Iran is a key supplier for several European countries. "Brent seems to be more sensitive to tensions regarding the European oil embargo, Israeli-Iranian political tensions and continued protests in Egypt," said The Schork Report from U.S. analyst and trader Stephen Schork, who noted that Brent has risen over 4 percent Jan. 20 while the benchmark Nymex contract is nearly flat. In other energy trading, heating oil was down 0.04 cent at $3.1140 per gallon and gasoline futures fell 1.41 cents to $2.9003 per gallon. Natural gas rose 3.7 cents to $2.536 per 1,000 cubic feet.