“Oil traded near its lowest price in a week in New York as inventories of fuels such as heating oil rose by the most since July and U.S. lawmakers struggled to reach agreement on a budget plan.
West Texas Intermediate was little changed after declining a second day yesterday as U.S. distillate stockpiles climbed 3.03 million barrels, according to the Energy Department. They were forecast to gain 850,000 barrels. Crude also dropped amid disagreement between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders in talks to avert more than $600 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff.
“Supplies are plentiful going into early 2013, which would cushion any surprise disruptions,” saidAndrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London. “Uncertainty over the U.S. debt reduction negotiations is seeing very cautious trading in crude at the moment.”
WTI crude for January delivery was at $87.76 a barrel, down 12 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:21 p.m. London time. Prices fell 62 cents yesterday to close at $87.88 a barrel, the lowest since Nov. 28. Futures have dropped 11 percent this year.
Brent for January settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange was down 15 cents at $108.66 a barrel after sliding $1.03 yesterday. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $20.88 to WTI. It closed at $20.93 yesterday, the narrowest gap since Nov. 2.”
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