Crude oil fell from a six-month high after the Federal Reserve said that recovery may fail to take root in the U.S., the world’s largest energy consumer. Oil and equities declined after minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on April 28 and 29 showed that policy- makers see “significant downside risks” in the economic outlook. U.S. daily fuel demand in the four weeks ended May 15 fell 7.6 percent from a year earlier, an Energy Department report showed yesterday. “The market has been getting overheated,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London. “The demand picture hasn’t justified the recent gains, and now that equity markets are pulling back traders are taking profits in oil.” Crude oil for July delivery dropped as much as $1.48, or 2.4 percent, to $60.56 a barrel, and was at $60.69 on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:07 a.m. in London. Stocks in Europe and Asia retreated and U.S. index futures dropped. The MSCI World Index fell for the first time in four days, losing 0.6 percent at 9:47 a.m. in London, while futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.6 percent. Crude oil may be poised to fall further, based on technical indicators used by traders. The 30-day relative strength index climbed to 60.58 today. The last time it was near this level, at 60.90 on July 14, the oil price started a 22 percent drop from $145.18 a barrel to $112.87 on Aug. 18. No Improvement “We really haven’t seen any improvement in demand,” said Toby Hassall, a research analyst at Commodity Warrants Australia Pty in Sydney. “I just don’t think the fundamentals of the oil market can support prices up around the early $60s.” U.S. refineries operated at 81.8 percent of capacity, down 1.9 percentage points from the prior week, the Energy Department report showed. Flint Hills Resources LLC planned to restart a gasoline- making unit at the Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery yesterday after shutting down the unit a day earlier because of a fire. Federal Reserve officials, while noting possible signs of “stabilization” in the U.S. economy, signaled they’re not convinced those improvements will persist. Policy makers saw “significant downside risks” to the economic outlook, with the global financial system still “vulnerable to further shocks,” according to minutes released yesterday of the April 28-29 session. Yesterday, oil rose $1.94, or 3.2 percent, to settle at $62.04 a barrel, the highest closing price since Nov. 10, after the U.S. Energy Department said crude stockpiles dropped by 2.11 million barrels to 368.5 million in the week ended May 15. A 400,000-barrel decrease was forecast, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Gasoline supplies plunged 4.34 million barrels to 204 million. A 1.2 million-barrel drop was forecast, according to the median estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Brent crude for July settlement fell as much as $1.44, or 2.4 percent, to $59.15 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange.

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