Oil traded below $75 a barrel in New York after a government report showed that U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly increased, adding to signs of slowing economic growth. Futures declined 0.4 percent yesterday after the Energy Department said stockpiles rose 970,000 barrels to 358.3 million last week. They were forecast to drop 1.75 million barrels, according to the median analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Gasoline supplies also climbed and are now 15 percent higher than their five-year average and distillate stockpiles are now 23.3 percent above the five-year mean. “The builds aren’t good for the market,” said Ben Westmore, a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne. “There just doesn’t seem to be the demand around at the moment. The major industries that use oil intensely in the U.S. are still sluggish.” The November contract traded at $74.76 a barrel, up 5 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:32 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, it fell 26 cents to settle at $74.71. Prices have dropped 5.8 percent this year. Analysts had forecast supplies would shrink after the eight-day shutdown of the Enbridge Energy Partners LP 6A pipeline that sends Canadian crude to the U.S. Midwest. Prices surged on speculation the closure would cause refineries in the Midwest to divert supply from Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery hub for West Texas Intermediate oil traded in New York. “A shortfall in U.S. supply from Canada after a major pipeline closure was more than met by rising imports in other regions,” Mark Pervan, head of commodity research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne, said in an e- mailed note today. Imports Climb Crude oil imports rose 295,000 barrels a day to 9.3 million. Overseas transfers of fuel products jumped 11 percent to 2.5 million barrels a day, the Energy Department said. Total U.S. domestic oil product inventories reached 768.1 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 17, according to Bloomberg calculations. That’s the highest level since 1990 when the Energy Department began reporting weekly data. The figure doesn’t include ethanol stockpiles. Total consumption of petroleum products averaged 19.2 million barrels a day last week, down 1.8 percent from the seven days ended Sept. 10, the Energy Department report showed. Gasoline inventories rose 1.59 million barrels to 226.1 million, the highest level since March, the report showed. Stockpiles were forecast to drop 250,000 barrels, according to the median of 18 analyst estimates. Stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, climbed 347,000 barrels to 174.9 million. Inventories were forecast to increase 100,000 barrels. Home Prices Decline Prices also slipped as equities declined after a drop in U.S. home prices raised concern the economic recovery will falter and as forecasts at technology companies disappointed investors. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.5 percent in New York and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.2 percent to 10,739.31. House prices dropped 3.3 percent in July from a year earlier, the eighth consecutive decline, as foreclosed properties flooded the market, a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency in Washington showed yesterday. Brent crude oil for November settlement traded at $77.71 a barrel, down 24 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It fell 47 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $77.95 yesterday. To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Clyde Russell in Singapore at crussell7@bloomberg.net

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