Oil prices mixed over Greece, growth data

New York's main contract West Texas Intermediate crude for June closed at $93.98 a barrel, down 80 cents from Monday.

In London trade, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June rose 67 cents to settle at $112.24 a barrel.

The New York futures contract spent a brief time in positive territory in opening trade before heading south on news that debt-riddled Greece had failed to form a new government and must hold new elections.

With no guarantee that Greece's second elections in less than two months will produce a viable government, there are increasing prospects the nation will exit the eurozone and renege on its commitments under an EU-IMF bailout.

"There is again a great concern for Europe. We've seen one more time a big drop of the euro" against the dollar, said Tom Bentz at BNP Paribas.

A stronger US currency makes dollar-priced crude oil more costly for buyers using weaker currencies, tending to dampen demand.

But investors also weighed better-than-expected economic growth for the 17-nation eurozone in the first quarter, at zero, instead of the 0.2 percent contraction expected; Germany, Europe's biggest economy, grew 0.5 percent.

Phil Flynn at PFG Best sounded a note of caution on that news.

The oil market "has to be convinced that Germany's sudden economic recovery will be sustainable in a world where Greece and France seem to want to move towards economic self-destruction," Flynn said.

Bentz warned that geopolitical tensions over Iran's suspected nuclear program could drive oil prices higher again later this month when world powers resume talks on the issue.

Joining Iran at the May 23 meeting in Baghdad will be Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

"I won't be surprised if the market rises sharply next week after the meeting between Iran and the six powers," Bentz said.