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At 12:48 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 was off 0.1 per cent on 1,026.43 points, Reuters reports, with drops of as much as one per cent recorded by Total, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and BG Group.
The decline came as investors awaited the release of a new report focusing on stocks of oil in the US.
In the financial sector, Societe Generale, HSBC, Commerzbank and BNP Paribas were down by between 0.1 per cent and two per cent, but there was a rise for Standard Chartered.
The bank posted is financial results for 2009 today and City Index's Nick Serff said the fact that the figures were "ahead of expectations" helped its share price to increase by over 2.5 per cent.
However, the fall was not repeated on the FTSE 100 in London. According to the news agency, the index was up 0.31 per cent to 5,501.12 points by 14:20 GMT.
Posted by Clive Arneil
