Thursday, October 16, 2008

Oil tumbles below $70 on big jumps in US crude supplies

NEW YORK - Oil prices have tumbled below $70 a barrel after the government reported bigger-than-expected jumps in US crude and gasoline inventories. Investors took the news as more evidence that an economic slowdown is curbing demand for energy.

In its weekly report, the Energy Information Administration says crude stocks rose by 5.6 million barrels last week, well above the 3.1 million barrel increase expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts.

The EIA also says gasoline stock rose by 7 million barrels last week, more than double the build analysts had expected.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery was down $4.61 to $69.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude's lowest trading level in nearly 14 months.

Oil prices have now dropped by more than 50 percent since peaking at $147.27 on July 11. - source

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