Crude fell for a second day in New York as an unexpected increase in U.S. inventories bolstered speculation demand from the world’s biggest oil-consuming nation is slowing. Oil dropped as much as 0.3 percent after an Energy Department report showed crude stockpiles climbed 360,000 barrels to 353.5 million last week, compared with analysts’ predictions of a drawdown. Gasoline and distillate fuel supplies also rose. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said late yesterday the economic outlook remains “unusually uncertain.” “It’s been a volatile period over the past few months and we’ve seen the global growth outlook questioned in many quarters with sources of uncertainty evident,” Toby Hassall, a commodity analyst at CWA Global Markets Pty in Sydney, said by telephone. “A set of bearish Energy Department numbers added to the selling pressure.” Crude for September delivery fell as much as 26 cents to $76.30 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $76.38 at 11:27 a.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract dropped $1.02 to $76.56. Futures have lost 3.8 percent this year. Bernanke said the Fed’s “somewhat weaker outlook” is due in part to financial markets that “have become less supportive of economic growth in recent months.” The Fed is prepared to act as needed to aid growth, he said. Commercially held U.S. crude inventories were forecast to drop 1.2 million barrels, according to the median estimate from 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Refinery Operations Refiners raised average utilization by 1 percentage point to 91.5 percent of capacity, the highest rate since August 2007, according to the Energy Department’s report. Oil stockpiles held at Cushing, Oklahoma, where New York- traded West Texas Intermediate grade is delivered, rose 985,000 barrels to 37.1 million, the largest increase since April, the report showed. Crude imports increased 7.5 percent to 9.98 million barrels a day, the biggest one-week gain in three months. Gasoline stockpiles climbed 1.12 million barrels to 222.2 million even as production slipped, the Energy Department said. Distillate fuel supplies, including heating oil and diesel, rose 3.94 million barrels to 166.6 million, the biggest increase since the week to Jan. 9, 2009. Brent crude for September settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange dropped as much as 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $75.10 a barrel. The contract fell 85 cents, or 1.1 percent, to end yesterday’s session at $75.37. To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net; Yee Kai Pin in Singapore at kyee13@bloomberg.net

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