LONDON - European Union carbon emissions futures fell on Wednesday as the market absorbed December 2009 contract deliveries and awaited an outcome from climate talks in Copenhagen.

EU Allowances for December 2010 delivery were down 19 cents or 1.30 percent at 14.42 euros a tonne at 1325 GMT. Volume was thin at 1,347 lots traded.

The market is digesting the delivery of the Dec-09 contract. It is waiting for the end of Copenhagen and winding down before the Christmas vacation, an emissions trader said.

Volume was thin on Tuesday as well and prices moved in a very narrow range, suggesting market players had been concentrating on clearing the Dec-09 contract which expired on Monday.

Trading volumes of emissions products on the European Climate Exchange in 2009 rose 81 percent to over 5 billion tonnes compared with 2008, the exchange said on Wednesday.

Of that total figure, 4.2 billion tonnes were EUAs, while 0.8 billion were certified emissions reductions (CERs).

German Calendar 2010 baseload power on the EEX was down 35 cents or 0.78 percent at 44.50 euros per megawatt hour.

Oil rose above $71 a barrel on Wednesday, extending its gains after snapping a nine-day losing streak a day earlier, as industry data showing a sharp drop in U.S. distillate stockpiles overshadowed signs of weak demand.

World leaders took the stage at the largest ever climate talks on Wednesday as ministers scrambled to rescue troubled negotiations on a pact to avoid dangerous global warming.

Traders said that without a deal in Copenhagen EUA prices could fall one euro or more.

At this stage some bad news has been priced in. When there is little liquidity, bad news can cause the market to fall very quickly, the trader said.

U.N.-backed CERs fell 25 cents or 1.98 percent to 12.40 euros a tonne.

Traders said London-based Saxon Financials closed its London office late last week, following the departures of two of its carbon traders in September. No one from the company was available for comment.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Anthony Barker)

Climate change