Report should be any minute now!:worried:
Oil drops ahead of key supply report
Price falls below $88 a barrel on stock market's slide, fears that a poor service sector report indicates a looming U.S. recession.
February 6 2008: 9:33 AM EST
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices extended their slide Wednesday as global stock markets plunged on fears of a U.S. recession, and ahead of a U.S. petroleum supply report expected to show that crude supplies rose last week.
Financial markets were surprised by data in the United States that indicated the traditionally strong service sector shrank dramatically last month, raising the prospect that demand for energy will weaken along with the economy.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of activity in the U.S. service sector, which makes up about two-thirds of the economy there,
fell below 50 for January, indicating contraction - the first in nearly five years.
It was the latest in a series of reports that have stoked fears that the world's largest economy is nearing -- or already in -- recession.
Overnight, Wall Street declined sharply, pulling down major Asian stock markets Wednesday. Hong Kong's benchmark index plunged 5.4 percent in a half-day session ahead of a long break for the Lunar New Year; Japan's Nikkei index fell 4.7 percent.
Energy investors often view stocks as a proxy for economic growth, and worry that if economies slow or shrink, demand for oil and gasoline will as well.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery dropped 46 cents to $87.95 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.61 to settle at $88.41 a barrel on Tuesday.
The U.S. Energy Department was to issue its weekly report on oil inventories later Wednesday. Crude supplies were forecast to have grown last week by 2.6 million barrels, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
Gasoline stockpiles were seen building 1.8 million barrels, while distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, were seen falling 1.8 million barrels. Refinery use was seen falling 0.1 percentage point to 84.9 percent.
OPEC has argued that -- while the market is well supplied with crude -- stretched refinery capacities in the U.S. are a potential source of supply shortages of gasoline and other oil-derived products.
Reporting that Saudi Arabia cut its official selling prices for its crude shipments to the U.S. and Asia but increased them for Europe, Vienna's JBC Energy said "weak refining margins in Asia and the U.S. prompted refiners to cut runs, which led to weak crude demand in these regions."
In Europe, on the other hand, "lower supplies of Urals and North Sea grades, supported the demand for Middle Eastern grades," its daily energy market report said.
Heating oil prices were essentially steady at $2.4405 a gallon, while gasoline prices lost more than a penny to fetch $2.2525 a gallon. Natural gas futures added 5.1 cents to $7.993 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Brent crude lost 42 cents, selling at $88.40 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
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