NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures fell Wednesday for a second session ahead of the government's petroleum inventories data, heading for their worst year on record on concerns that the economic recession will cut energy demand. Crude for February delivery was last down $1.24, or 3.2%, at $37.79 a barrel in early North America electronic trading. Futures have tumbled more than 60% this year, the biggest loss since crude started futures trading in New York in 1983. The government's Energy Information Administration and the American Petroleum Institute will release separate reports on U.S. petroleum inventories for the week ended Dec. 26 at 10:35 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by energy information provider Platts expect a 1.75 million barrels reduction in crude stockpiles. They also expect a 1.7 million barrels buildup in gasoline inventories and a 1.3 million barrels increase in distillate stocks. Last Wednesday, the EIA reported crude stockpiles fell for the first week in three, down 3.1 million barrels to 318.2 million for the week ended Dec. 19. Meanwhile, crude inventories at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for Nymex-traded crude contracts, reached 28.7 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 19. It was the highest since at least April 2004, when the government started collecting Cushing data. The EIA will also report the latest data on natural gas supplies at 12 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, a day early because of the New Year's Day holiday. Also in energy trading, February reformulated gasoline gained lost 1.5% to 91.92 cents a gallon and February heating oil fell 0.7% to $1.297 a gallon. February natural gas futures fell 1.4% to $5.775 per million British thermal units.

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