Crude oil fell to the lowest in 10 months as the U.S. government reported a bigger-than-expected gain in crude and gasoline inventories and the global economic crisis curbed demand.
Oil supplies rose 8.12 million barrels to 302.6 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 3, as imports and output resumed after halting last month for hurricanes, the Energy Department said today. The agency yesterday cut its forecast for 2008 global oil demand by 340,000 barrels to 86.14 million barrels a day.
``The big builds in crude and gasoline were the big surprises in this week's data,'' said Tim Evans, an energy analyst with Citi Futures Perspective in New York, in an e-mail. ``Product-demand numbers were surprisingly weak.''
Crude oil for November delivery fell $1.11 or 1.2 percent, to settle at $88.95 a barrel at 2:54 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $86.05 a barrel, the lowest since December, and have fallen 40 percent since reaching a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11.
Oil pared earlier losses on a report that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may meet Nov. 18 in Vienna to discuss the effect of the financial crisis on oil markets. The state-owned Algerie Presse Service cited a person it didn't identify. Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil is OPEC's current president.
Libya's top oil official, National Oil Corp. Chairman Shokri Ghanem, said ``it's high time'' for OPEC to meet, in a telephone interview from Tripoli. The OPEC Secretariat couldn't immediately confirm the meeting. The next scheduled meeting of ministers is Dec. 17 in Algeria.
U.S. fuel demand averaged about 18.7 million barrels a day during the past four weeks, the lowest since June 1999. The figure is down 8.6 percent from the year-earlier period, the department said.
U.S. gasoline demand dropped 9.5 percent last week, the biggest decline in more than three years, as the slowing economy curtailed driving, a MasterCard Inc. report showed yesterday.
Gasoline for November delivery fell 3.3 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $2.0298 a gallon after touching $1.95, the lowest price since Oct. 2, 2007. The motor fuel is down 44 percent from a record $3.631 on July 11.
Supplies of gasoline rose 7.18 million barrels, or 4 percent, to 186.8 million barrels as refinery capacity climbed 8.7 percentage points to 80.9 percent. It was the biggest increase in refinery utilization in records that go back to 1989. Gasoline inventories had the biggest gain in seven years.
Gasoline stockpiles were expected to rise 1.5 million barrels, and refinery utilization was forecast to increase by 6 percentage points, according to the median of analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Oil inventories were estimated to rise 2.2 million barrels.
Retail Prices At The Pump Here In The Mid-West!! Thank You Sellers!!!
