Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell below $81 a barrel as Japan reduced imports and U.S. refiners idle processing capacity on lower fuel consumption. Oil retreated from its one-year high after Japan, the world’s third-largest crude user, reported imports in the past six months fell 13 percent from a year ago. U.S. refiners supplied 3.3 percent less gasoline last week as they kept offline about 19 percent of their units. “The fundamentals don’t support the rally that we’ve seen,” said Clarence Chu, a trader at options dealer Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. “Right now is the time of year when refiners shut down for maintenance so it’s typically bearish for oil because the demand from refiners is lower.” Crude oil for December delivery fell as much as 63 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $80.74 a barrel, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $81.05 a barrel at 1:35 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract rose $2.25 to $81.37, the highest settlement since Oct. 9, 2008. Prices are up 82 percent this year. Oil jumped yesterday after the U.S. dollar dropped to $1.5046 against the euro, the weakest level since August 2008. The greenback moved higher today to $1.4989 at 1:36 p.m. in Tokyo. Prices were also supported by a report from the Energy Department of declines in gasoline and distillate stockpiles. “Gasoline and distillate stocks dropped and there was a bit of a weaker dollar,” said Ben Westmore, an energy and minerals economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne. “We need a few weeks of these draw-downs over the coming weeks to get a better sense of whether the fundamentals are improving. At this stage, the fundamentals are still weak.” Inventory Report Gasoline stockpiles dropped 1.1 percent to 206.9 million barrels last week, the report showed. Inventories were forecast to decrease by 850,000 barrels, according to the median of 16 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Inventories of crude oil rose 1.31 million barrels to 339.1 million, the highest level since August, the Energy Department report showed. Supplies were forecast to climb by 1.5 million barrels. The gain left stockpiles 9.4 percent above the five- year average for the period, the department said. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell 784,000 barrels to 169.9 million, according to the department. Supplies were forecast to decrease by 1 million barrels. U.S. refiners operated at 81.1 percent of capacity last week, the Energy Department said, down from 85.58 percent a month ago. The yield of gasoline produced fell to 60.1 percent of output versus 64.4 percent during the week of Oct. 2. China Processing China’s monthly crude-oil processing volume reached its second-highest level this year as the nation’s economy recorded its fastest growth in 2009. Refining volume climbed 14 percent in September to 32.8 million metric tons, or about 8 million barrels a day, from a year earlier, according to China Mainland Marketing Research Co., which compiles data for the government. Processing reached a record 33.1 million tons in July. Brent crude oil for December settlement fell as much as 43 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $79.26 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $79.44 a barrel at 1:35 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, it climbed $2.45, or 3.2 percent, to end the session at $79.69. To contact the reporters on this story: Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at Christian.s@bloomberg.net

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