Supplies dropped 482,000 barrels to 364.7 million barrels, the Energy Department said today. Inventories were forecast to increase 1.5 million barrels, according to the median of 11 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday that supplies gained 462,000 barrels last week to 362.9 million.
Crude oil for November delivery declined $2.30, or 2.5 percent, to $89.59 a barrel at 10:37 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil traded at $89.62 a barrel before release of the inventory report at 10:30 a.m.
Gasoline inventories rose 114,000 barrels to 195.9 million last week, the department said. Stockpiles were forecast to decline 500,000 barrels, according to the median of 11 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
Distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel, tumbled 3.67 million barrels to 124.1 million. Stockpiles were estimated to decrease 400,000 barrels from the prior week.
Futures declined as much as 2.9 percent before the report as a measure of China’s economy fell, signaling fuel demand may decline in the world’s second biggest user of the commodity. Chinese services industries expanded at the weakest pace since at least March 2011, while euro-area services and manufacturing output contracted.
Weakening Demand
“Energy markets appear to be moving on concerns about weakening demand,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago. “The Chinese non- manufacturing data seems to signal that we’ll be seeing less fuel use.”
China’s services purchasing managers’ index fell to 53.7 in September from 56.3 in August, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in Beijing today. The number was lower than any previous reading in data compiled by Bloomberg starting in March 2011. Readings above 50 indicate expansion. Similar measures for manufacturing industries have shown contractions for last month.
A euro-area composite index based on a survey of services and manufacturing purchasing managers fell to 46.1 in September, from 46.3 in August, London-based Markit Economics said today. In Germany, the region’s largest economy, France and Italy, the services indicators were all below 50 last month. The gauge for Spain dropped to 40.2 from 44.
In Britain, a service measure dropped more than economists forecast to 52.2 in September from 53.7. Markit said the underlying trend in the U.K. economy is near stagnation.
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
