WTI Oil Drops a Fourth Day as U.S. Crude Inventories Advance

West Texas Intermediate fell for a fourth day after an industry report showed crude supplies rose for a ninth week in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Futures slid as much as 0.2 percent in New York. U.S. crude inventories increased by 6.9 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said yesterday. An Energy Information Administration report today is projected to show stockpiles gained by 750,000 barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey. OPEC will keep its production quota unchanged when the group meets next month in Vienna, a separate survey shows.

WTI for January delivery dropped as much as 22 cents to $93.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $93.57 at 11:03 a.m. Sydney time. The contract slid 0.4 percent to $93.68 yesterday. The volume of all futures traded was about 63 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for January settlement declined 12 cents to $110.88 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark crude ended the session at a premium of $17.20 to WTI, the widest gap in eight months.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will reaffirm its collective target of 30 million barrels a day at a meeting next week, according to 18 of 20 analysts and traders surveyed by Bloomberg News.

(Source: Bloomberg)