Oil prices fall ahead of OPEC meeting

WASHINGTON: Oil prices fell by more than $1 a barrel for the second day in a row after US government data showed a large increase in domestic inventories of crude and traders awaited news from an emergency OPEC meeting in Doha.

Light sweet crude for November delivery fell $1.28 to settle at $57.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, December Brent crude on the ICE Futures exchange fell $1.36 to $59.58 a barrel on Wednesday.

In its latest weekly report, the federal Energy Information Administration said crude-oil supplies grew last week by 5.1 million barrels to 335.6 million barrels, or 7 per cent above year ago levels. The supply of distillate, which includes heating oil, stood at 145.4 million barrels, or 15 per cent above year ago levels even after a larger-than-expected 4.5 million barrel decline.

The agency said gasoline supplies fell by 5.2 million barrels last week to 210.2 million barrels, or 6 per cent above year ago levels.

The shrinking supplies of transportation and home-heating fuels came as refinery activity declined while companies performed seasonal maintenance.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet in Qatar on Thursday to discuss production quotas and a possible cut of 1 million barrels. The potential market intervention by the cartel follows a more than 25 per cent decline in oil prices since a mid-July peak above $78 a barrel.