Oil fell as U.S. crude and fuel supplies climbed more than analysts estimated amid concern that a contracting German economy may drag Europe into recession.
Futures dropped as much as 1.7 percent after a government report showed that crude inventories rose 4.96 million barrels last week, almost five times the gain projected in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Fuel supplies jumped as demand decreased. Oil also slipped as Germany’s Federal Statistics Office said Europe’s largest economy shrank last quarter.
The Energy Department report “gives a clear and consistent bearish signal across the board,” said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York. “There were larger-than-expected builds in supply and product demand was weaker.”
Crude oil for February delivery declined 82 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $101.42 a barrel at 11:27 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped as much as $1.69 to $100.55. Prices are up 11 percent from a year earlier.
Brent oil for February settlement fell 27 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $113.01 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The oil supply increase left inventories at 334.6 million barrels, the highest level since the week ended Dec. 2. A 1 million barrel gain was forecast, according to the median of 12 analyst estimates in the Bloomberg News survey.
Gasoline supplies climbed 3.61 million barrels to 223.8 million in the week ended Jan. 6, the highest level since March, the report showed. Analysts projected a 2.25 million barrel gain in stockpiles. Demand (DOEDMGAS) for the fuel tumbled 4.4 percent to 8.18 million barrels a day, the lowest level since February 2003.
European Economies
German gross domestic product decreased by about 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter from the third, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today in an unofficial estimate. Spain’s industrial output fell 7 percent in November from a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute in Madrid said in an e-mailed statement today.
