Oil fell in New York, heading for the biggest quarterly drop since 2008, on concern Europe’s debt crisis may linger and speculation U.S. stockpiles increased. Futures dropped as much as 2.1 percent as German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled policy makers may review Greece’s second bailout after inspectors rule on whether the country is meeting the terms of its current package. U.S. supplies of gasoline and crude oil increased last week, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News before an Energy Department report today. “Market sentiment changes from one day to the next based on optimism or despair about the Greek situation,” said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. “Prices are hemmed in, moving in either direction on the most recent headlines about the European debt crisis and the U.S. economy.” Crude oil for November delivery declined $1.06, or 1.3 percent, to $83.39 a barrel at 9:05 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract climbed 5.3 percent yesterday to $84.45. It was the biggest gain since May 9. Oil is down 6.1 percent this month and 8.7 percent this year. Prices have dropped 13 percent since the end of June, the biggest quarterly loss since the last three months of 2008. Brent crude oil for November settlement fell 83 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $106.31 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Greek Numbers Greece’s “numbers in September, as it now seems, were again different from what we expected under the program,” Merkel told Greek broadcaster NET when asked whether the second bailout agreed by European leaders on July 21 will be revised. Experts from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund will return to Athens tomorrow as officials race to put in place a package of measures that will ring-fence Greece. Euro-area finance ministers will hold a meeting on Greece in October amid concerns that a default could plunge the global economy into recession. The Energy Department report will probably show that supplies of crude oil rose 2.05 million barrels last week, according to the median of 14 analyst responses in a Bloomberg News survey. Gasoline inventories climbed 1 million barrels, the survey showed. The American Petroleum Institute said yesterday that crude stockpiles rose 568,000 barrels in the week ended Sept. 23. Gasoline inventories surged 4.62 million barrels, according to the industry-funded group. “We are probably down on anticipation that the DOE report will show bigger increases than forecast,” said Carl Larry, director of energy derivatives and research at Blue Ocean Brokerage LLC in New York. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.

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