Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures fluctuated after rebounding from an early loss when a U.S. government report showed unexpected decreases in supplies of gasoline and distillate fuels. Gasoline inventories fell 3.47 million barrels to 222.6 million in the week ended Sept. 24, the Energy Department said today in a weekly report. Stockpiles were forecast to rise by 350,000 barrels, according to the median of 14 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel, fell 1.27 million barrels to 173.6 million. Stockpiles were forecast to rise 325,000 barrels. Inventories of crude oil fell 475,000 barrels to 357.9 million, the department said. Supplies were forecast to decline 700,000 barrels. Crude oil for November delivery were unchanged at $76.18 a barrel at 10:38 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil traded at $75.64 a barrel before the release of the report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. Oil also advanced as European confidence in the economic outlook unexpectedly improved this month after executives and consumers weathered tougher government budget cuts by countries struggling to convince investors that they won’t need external aid. An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16 euro nations rose to 103.2, the highest since January 2008, from a revised 102.3 in August, the European Commission in Brussels said in an e-mailed statement today. That compares with economists’ forecast for a decline to 101.3, based on the median of 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. China’s imports of oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, will increase 19 percent from last year to 50 million metric tons in 2010, the official Saudi Press Agency reported today, citing Yang Honglin, China’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. China overtook the U.S. as Saudi Arabia’s largest buyer of oil earlier this year. --Editors: Richard Stubbe, Joe Link. To contact the reporter on this story: Margot Habiby in Dallas at mhabiby@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net.

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