MW: Crude oil falls below $98 after jump in supply
By Shawn Langlois and Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Oil futures dropped below $98 a barrel on Wednesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported a surprisingly large rise in crude supplies.
Crude oil for December delivery CLZ3 -0.93% shed 91 cents, or 0.9%, to $97.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The API said supplies rose 5.9 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 25. A Platts survey of analysts showed a forecast for a climb of 3.5 million barrels. The API data precedes the more closely watched Energy Information Administration report due later Wednesday.
Brent crude for December delivery UK:LCOZ3 +0.17% gained 6 cents to $109.07 a barrel.
Brent prices are “continuing to find support from the supply outages in Libya, which total over 90% of the normal export volume,” analysts at Commerzbank AG wrote in a note to clients.
A day earlier, oil ended in the red for the first time in four sessions, as a drop in U.S. consumer confidence dampened the outlook for energy demand.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, November gasoline RBX3 +0.49% held steady at $2.61 a gallon, while December natural gas NGZ13 +0.03% gained 1 cent to $3.64 per million British thermal units.
Shawn Langlois is an editor and columnist for MarketWatch in London. Follow him on Twitter @slangwise.
Polya Lesova is chief of MarketWatch’s London bureau.
