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Oil prices hover above $74

15 February 2010 07:58 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“APA-Economics. Oil traded near $74 a barrel after declining as a Department of Energy report showed a bigger-than- forecast increase in U.S. crude inventories and as China sought to cool its economic expansion, Bloomberg reported

Oil dropped Feb. 12 as China ordered banks to set aside more deposits as reserves for the second time in a month. The euro regionâ€™s gross domestic product grew less than forecast in the fourth quarter of last year, a report showed last week. Japanâ€™s economic growth accelerated more than expected last quarter, figures from the Cabinet Office showed today.

Crude oil for March delivery traded at $74.11 a barrel, down 3 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 5:10 p.m. Sydney time. The contract fell $1.15, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $74.13 on Feb. 12. Futures have dropped 6.4 percent this year.

The report showed crude supplies climbed 2.42 million barrels to 331.4 million, the highest level in two months. Inventories were forecast to rise by 1.6 million barrels, according to the median of estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

U.S. gasoline supplies increased 2.32 million barrels to 230.4 million last week, the report showed. Distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, lost 356,000 barrels to 156.2 million, less than the 1.55 million- barrel drop that was forecast.