Oil drifts near $81 amid mixed US inventory data

[March 10, 2010]  SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices drifted down to near $81 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed mixed evidence about U.S. crude demand.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 38 cents to $81.11 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 38 cents to settle at $81.49 on Tuesday.

Oil has jumped about 17 percent since early last month on increased investor confidence in this year's global economic growth. But crude demand from the U.S., the world's largest consumer of oil, has remained sluggish.

Crude inventories jumped last week by 6.5 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday. Analysts, eyeing a cold weather spell in much of the U.S. this month, had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

However, inventories of gasoline and distillates fell more than analysts expected, the API said.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration is scheduled to announce its supply report later Wednesday.

In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil fell 0.77 cent to $2.0821 a gallon, and gasoline was steady at $2.2595 a gallon. Natural gas held at $4.508 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was down 35 cents at $79.56 on the ICE futures exchange.

[Associated Press; By ALEX KENNEDY]

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