Oil prices fall

Oil prices fell as euphoria faded over a budget deal reached earlier this week by U.S. lawmakers and traders focused on signs of lackluster demand.

Benchmark crude for February delivery fell 74 cents to $92.18 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 20 cents to $92.92 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

The deal reached in Washington prevents the "fiscal cliff" crisis of steep, automatic tax and spending increases from hammering the U.S. economy. But it puts off for two months some hard decisions about spending cuts that are needed to get the country's mammoth deficit under control.

Brent crude, used to price international varieties of oil, fell 66 cents to $111.48 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.