Oil edged above $94 a barrel Wednesday, recovering slightly from an extended slide ahead of a report expected to show another increase in U.S. crude stockpiles.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery was up 78 cents at $94.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract slid $1.25 to $93.37 on Tuesday, adding to a monthlong slide. Crude is down about 10 percent since closing at $104.10 on October 2.
U.S. crude stockpiles have increased in each of the past six weeks, mostly because of rising domestic production, and were more than 10 percent above their five-year average near the end of October.
A report from the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute released late Tuesday showed a rise of 871,000 barrels in crude stocks last week, while gasoline stocks fell by an unexpectedly large 4.3 million barrels.
The figures from the Energy Information Administration the market benchmark due Wednesday are expected to show a further increase of 2.5 million barrels in crude stocks and a draw of 1 million barrels in gasoline supplies, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
