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Oil fell to near $115 a barrel on Thursday as economic weakness in Europe underscored the threat to global oil demand growth and on hopes a shaky cease-fire between Russia and Georgia would hold.
The economy of the 15-nation Euro-zone contracted by 0.2 percent in the worst second quarter for the European economy since 1995, the European Union's statistics office said.
The report comes on the heals of data showing the Japanese economy contracted by 0.6 percent in the same period and weak growth in the United States.
U.S. light, sweet crude [ US@CL.1 80.09 
-0.59 (-0.73%) ] settled down 99 cents at $115.01 a barrel after falling as low as $112.59 in a volatile trading session.
London Brent crude [ GB@IB.1 79.38 -0.5 (-0.63%) ] fell 83 cents at $112.69 a barrel.
"We've corrected quite a bit on oil. Despite a lot of bullish news, the sentiment has been bearish," Harry Tchiliguirian, senior oil analyst at BNP Paribas, said.
Cease-fire talks between Russian and Georgia aimed at resolving the conflict over the breakaway South Ossetia region were held on Thursday.
But Russian forces continued to occupy parts of the country that is a strategic transit route for oil produced from the Caspian Sea. Russian warships blocked a tanker loaded with Azeri crude oil from leaving the Georgian port of Poti on the Black Sea, the head of Azerbaijan's state oil company said.
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