WTI Rebounds After Biggest Drop in Week as Supplies Seen Falling

West Texas Intermediate rebounded after the biggest drop in a week amid speculation that crude supplies shrank for the first time in more than two months in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Futures advanced as much as 0.3 percent in New York after slipping 0.8 percent yesterday. U.S. crude stockpiles fell 300,000 barrels in the week ended Nov. 22, the first drop in 10 weeks, according to a Bloomberg News survey before an Energy Information Administration report tomorrow. WTI and Brent in London slid yesterday after Iran and world powers reached an interim agreement on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

WTI for January delivery gained as much as 25 cents to $94.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $94.33 at 10:40 a.m. Sydney time. The contract declined 75 cents to $94.09 yesterday, the lowest close since Nov. 20. The volume of all futures traded was about 74 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for January settlement fell 5 cents to $111 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark crude ended the session at a premium of $16.91 to WTI futures, the widest gap in eight months.

U.S. gasoline supplies probably climbed 1 million barrels last week, according to the median estimate of seven analysts in the Bloomberg survey. Distillate inventories, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell 1.03 million.

(Source: Bloomberg)