Oil dropped for a fifth day, the longest losing streak since December, as inventories unexpectedly rose and demand slipped.
The lower oil price will help airlines such as Qantas (ASX: QAN) due to lower fuel bills, but producers such as Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL) and Santos (ASX: STO) may give up today some of the gains from yesterday.
November crude slid 0.5 percent to finish at $102.66 a barrel, the lowest settlement for a most-active contract since early July, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Stockpiles increased 2.64 million barrels last week, according to an Energy Information Administration report. Analysts had predicted a 1 million-barrel decline.
Crude supplies climbed for the first time in four weeks, according to data from the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm. They rebounded to 358.3 million barrels from 355.6 million the prior week, the least since March 2012.
Total petroleum demand fell 2.8 percent to 19.3 million barrels a day. Refineries reduced their utilization rate to 90.3 percent, the lowest level since Aug. 9.
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