BLBG: Oil Rises on Forecasts of U.S. Fuel-Supply Drop, OPEC Cut
By Mark Shenk
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose on speculation that a government report will show U.S. fuel stockpiles dropped, and on speculation OPEC will cut production.
U.S. inventories of gasoline and distillate fuels, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, probably declined, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies 40 percent of the world’s oil, are scheduled to meet on Dec. 17 in Oran, Algeria, to discuss output.
Crude oil for January delivery rose 57 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $44.28 a barrel at 9:47 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have dropped 70 percent from the record $147.27 a barrel reached on July 11.
Brent crude oil for January settlement increased 32 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $43.74 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net
