Oil is falling in early morning trade after the American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories reached their highest level for the season in a decade. Market eyes will be on the U.S. Department of Energy's own weekly stockpile data to be released at 1030 ET. Gold is slightly lower on profit-taking, having reached a record high Tuesday as investors shored up safe haven assets. At 0755 ET, Brent crude is down 0.6% at $78.70 a barrel, while light sweet crude is down 1.5% at $75.63 a barrel, and natural gas is down 0.4% at $3.95 a million British thermal units. Gold is down 0.1% at $1,270.00 an ounce, while silver is up 0.1% at $20.46 an ounce, and copper is down 0.3% at $3.46 a pound. The Oraganization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no plans to change output quotas at its next meeting scheduled for Oct. 14, its president Wilson Pastor said. Wilson, who is also Ecuador's Minister of Non-Renewable Natural Resrouces, also said that energy prices are likely to remain stable in 2011. Enbridge Energy Partners LP ( EEP ) is expected to resume operations at its pipeline connecting Canada and the Midwest, after the line was shut down due to a spill last Friday. Lukoil OAO (LKOH) has bid for the right to explore the Trebs and Titov oil fields together with OAO TNK-BP (TNBP), according to Interfax news agency. TNK-BP has bid for the rights through its subsidiary, Samotlorneftgaz. In the mining sector, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd ( AU ) will sell shares and convertible bonds to raise $1.37 billion. The plan will give the gold giant full exposure to the current gold price, and stop hedging against the risk of price declines. Meanwhile, Sinochem Corp is unlikely to bid for Potash Corp ( POT ), even though the Chinese authorities have expressed concerns about BHP Billiton Ltd's ( BHP ) $39 billion bid for the fertilizer group, according to Reuters.

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