[dantes76]

Oil Prices Fall Below $50 Per Barrel

Jan 18 2:21 PM US/Eastern





NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices briefly fell below $50 per barrel for the first time since May 25, 2005, after the government reported larger-than-expected jumps in crude oil and gasoline inventories.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell to $49.90 in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It spent only a few moments below the $50 threshold before climbing back to $50.10, down $2.14.

U.S. crude oil stocks rose by 6.8 million barrels to 321.5 million, according to a report by the Energy Information Administration. Analysts had been expecting an increase of just 325,000 barrels, according to a Dow Jones Newswires Survey. The EIA said inventories are above the upper end of the average range for this time of year.

Gasoline inventories, meanwhile, rose by 3.5 million barrels to 216.8 million, above analysts' expectations of a 2.6 million barrel rise. Distillate fuel inventories, which include heating oil, rose by 900,000 barrels to 141.9 million barrels, compared with analysts' expectations of a 1.3 million barrel rise.