Crude oil was little changed near $69 a barrel before a report today forecast to show that unemployment in the U.S. rose to a 25-year high, sowing doubts about a global recovery. The International Energy Agency’s executive director, Nobuo Tanaka, said today that oil demand may not return quickly even after economic activity picks up. Yesterday, crude rose to a seven-month high as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its year- end forecast to $85 a barrel from $65. “Seventy dollars is still the psychological barrier,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London. “Fear of missing the next big rally has lifted prices this week but the market will likely consolidate around these levels until the non-farm payrolls data.” Crude oil for July delivery traded for $68.88 a barrel, 7 cents higher on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:18 p.m. London time. Yesterday, the contract rose as high as $69.60, the highest since Nov. 5. Prices are up 3.8 percent this week, poised for a third weekly advance. In a report received today, Goldman’s head of Americas energy team, Arjun Murti, who predicted an oil “super spike” in 2005, boosted his fourth-quarter estimate to $70 a barrel from $60. Murti’s London-based colleagues predicted prices will rise to $85 this year in a June 3 note. Abdalla el-Badri, secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said in London yesterday that oil will probably rise to between $70 and $75 a barrel by the end of this year because of expectations for an economic recovery and a weak dollar. Jobless Rate The U.S. jobless rate jumped to 9.2 percent last month, the highest level since 1983, according to the median estimate of 75 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Employers probably cut 520,000 workers from payrolls, the fewest in seven months. As a result, crude may snap its run of gains next week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Twenty-three of 34 analysts surveyed, or 68 percent, said futures will fall through June 12. It’s the most bearish response since February 2008. Seven respondents, or 21 percent, forecast that oil prices will rise and four said the market will be little changed. “The latest upward move in oil prices was mainly driven by an improvement in sentiment rather than fundamentals,” said Eliane Tanner, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG in Zurich. “U.S. inventories are increasing again and U.S. demand destruction is going on. This is, in our view, a major risk for crude-oil prices in the near-term.” A June 3 government report showed U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly rose last week as fuel consumption dropped. Crude-oil supplies climbed 2.9 million barrels to 366 million in the week ended May 29, according to the Energy Department. Imports jumped 9.9 percent and refineries increased operating rates to the highest in six months. Fuel demand fell 900,000 barrels to 17.7 million barrels a day last week, the lowest since May 1999. Brent crude for July delivery fell as much as 59 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $68.12 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $68.66 a barrel at 12:18 p.m. London time.

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