Oil falls on surprise supply build

By Blake Ellis, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices fell Wednesday after a government report showed that crude supplies surprisingly jumped last week.

What prices are doing: Crude oil for March delivery fell 25 cents, to settle at $76.98 a barrel, reversing the week's gains.

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What's driving prices: The Energy Information Administration released its weekly crude inventory report Wednesday morning.

Crude inventories rose by 2.3 million barrels. Analysts were expecting supplies to drop by 1 million barrels, according to a survey conducted by research firm Platts.

Gasoline stockpiles fell by 1.3 million barrels. Analysts were expecting stocks to rise by 1.5 million barrels.

Distillates, used to make heating oil and diesel, fell by 1 million barrels, under analysts' expectations of a 1.2 billion-barrel drop.

Oil prices were also pressured by a stronger dollar, which rose against rival currencies. A firmer greenback weighs on prices of commodities, which are traded in dollars.

What analysts are saying: "Despite the recent pop in prices, I think oil still has more to go on the downside," said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at PFG Best.

Down the road, he said he expects oil to fall regardless of what the economy does.

"If the economy gets worse, demand will be worse and inventory is already high, but if the economy gets better, the Fed will be more worried about inflationary concerns which should bring the dollar up, bringing oil prices down," said Flynn.

In the next month or two, he predicts oil will trade in a range of $72 to $79 a barrel but that prices may eventually drop as low as $40 a barrel.

"Once the economic stimulus goes away we're going to have to see a normalization of prices, and the best way to do that is to have a major price correction," he said. To top of page

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