Oil prices fell to a 20-month low near $50 a barrel on Thursday after the U.S. government reported larger-than-expected increases in crude-oil and gasoline inventories. Light sweet crude for February delivery fell $2 to $50.24 in morning trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have not closed below $50 per barrel since May 2005. U.S. crude-oil inventories jumped by 6.8 million barrels to 321.5 million barrels, ending four consecutive weeks of declines, the Energy Department said in its weekly petroleum report. Gasoline supplies rose by 3.5 million barrels to 216.8 million barrels. Inventories of distillates-including heating oil, diesel, and jet fuel-rose by 900,000 barrels to 141.9 million barrels. Earlier in Thursday's session, prices hovered around Wednesday's closing price of $52.24, as traders considered the effect of cold weather in the northeastern United States and forecasts of weak demand growth from the International Energy Agency (IEA). In lowering expectations for this year as well as revising last year's figures downward, the Paris-based IEA cited mild winter weather that has reduced energy demand and weaker expectations for U.S. economic growth. In its monthly oil-market report, IEA forecast global oil demand growth this year of 85.77 million barrels per day (bpd), down 160,000 bpd.
