“Oil traded near the lowest level in almost a week in New York after U.S. crude stockpiles increased and the World Bank cut its economic growth forecasts.
Futures were little changed after slipping the most in almost a month yesterday. U.S. crude supplies gained a second week and inventories rose to a record at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate, data from the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute showed. An Energy Department report today may show stockpiles climbed by 2.2 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey. OPEC reduced its output to the lowest level in 14 months, a monthly report from the producer group showed.
“Supply in the U.S. is increasingly comfortable as their domestic production of oil and gas burgeons,” said Christopher Bellew, a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London.
Crude for February delivery was at $93.34 a barrel, up 6 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:39 p.m. London time. The contract declined 0.9 percent to $93.28 yesterday, the biggest drop since Dec. 21 and the lowest close since Jan. 9.
Brent for February settlement, which expires today, was 11 cents higher at $110.41 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The more active March contract rose 14 cents to $109.77. The front-month European benchmark contract was at a premium of $17.12 to WTI. It closed at $17.02 yesterday, the narrowest spread since Sept. 19.
