According to Bloomberg, Brent for February settlement slipped 79 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $59.45 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, down 3.1 percent this week.
The volume of all futures was 84 percent below the 100-day average as of 3:10 p.m., with much of Europe on holiday after Christmas
West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery fell $1.11, or 2 percent, to $54.73 on the New York Mercantile Exchange with volume 68 percent below average. Prices were down 3.2 percent this week. Trading reached 174,562 contracts at 2:49 p.m.
The previous lowest volume this year was 244,240 on Aug. 25. Brent traded at a premium of $4.72 to WTI on the ICE.
The Minister of Finance in her 2015 Budget put its Oil benchmark price at $65 which is now $6 off the current retain price
Nigerian budget is benchmarked against the Bonny light which typically trades at about $3 higher than the Brent
Even at that, our budget benchmark is still higher than current market price going into the new year.
It is unlikely that the budget will pass at the price if Crude price continues to trend downwards.
