Oil swung between gains and losses after European finance ministers failed to agree on a debt- reduction package for Greece. Prices rose earlier after a report showed crude stockpiles shrank in the U.S. Futures were little changed, paring an advance of 0.8 percent, after finance chiefs meeting in Brussels were unable to gather enough funds to help alleviate Greece’s debt burden, stoking speculation the region’s debt crisis will worsen and curb fuel demand. The American Petroleum Institute said crude inventories slid for the second week in three. A Department of Energy report today may show supplies advanced. “Europe has a long road ahead of it, the resolution of the base issues could take years,� said Anthony Nunan, a senior adviser for risk management at Mitsubishi Corp. (8058), who predicts London’s Brent oil will trade between $105 and $112 a barrel in coming months. Crude for January delivery was at $86.79 a barrel, up 4 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:14 p.m. Singapore time. The contract lost $2.53 yesterday to $86.75, the biggest drop since Nov. 7. Prices are down 12 percent this year. Brent oil for January settlement was at $109.94 a barrel, up 11 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude was at a $23.15 premium to New York-traded West Texas Intermediate grade. The spread was $23.08 yesterday, the widest in three days. Technical Resistance Oil declined in New York yesterday after failing to trade higher than the 50-day moving average for a second day, signaling technical resistance, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This indicator, about $89.56 a barrel today, is where sell orders may be clustered. Crude rallied to $100 on Sept. 14, two months after breaching this chart-resistance level. European finance ministers ended more than 11 hours of talks with a declaration that an accord on Greece’s financing package will wait at least until a hastily arranged meeting on Nov. 26. The euro fell 0.5 percent from yesterday to $1.2753 at 2:18 p.m. in Tokyo. A stronger dollar typically reduces investor demand for commodities priced in the U.S. currency. U.S. crude stockpiles slid by 1.9 million barrels in the seven days ended Nov. 16, the API’s report showed yesterday. Supplies probably rose 1 million barrels, according to the median estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News before the Department of Energy figures. Fuel Stockpiles “The stockpile numbers have been volatile and we’ll look to the DOE data� for direction, said Jonathan Barratt, the chief executive officer of Barratt’s Bulletin, a commodity newsletter in Sydney. Gasoline and distillate stockpiles shrank to the lowest levels since 2008, the API said. Gasoline inventories slid 4.8 million barrels, the data showed. They are forecast to increase by 1 million barrels in the DOE report. Distillate-fuel supplies, including diesel and heating oil, fell 4.4 million barrels, compared with a projected 1 million-barrel decrease in the survey. The API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department in Washington for its weekly survey. To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net; Yee Kai Pin in Singapore at kyee13@bloomberg.net; Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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