By Rachel Graham Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil declined as the dollar rose, curbing demand for commodities, and before a report expected to show stockpiles rose in the U.S. Oil prices eased today as traders sold futures to lock in yesterday’s 3.3 percent gain. U.S. crude stockpiles probably rose last week, according to a survey before the U.S. Department of Energy’s weekly report tomorrow. “Until the DOE report comes out, the market will look for cues from external factors like macro releases and the dollar,” said Amrita Sen, a London-based oil analyst at Barclays Capital. Crude oil for December delivery fell as much as 59 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $78.31 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $78.48 a barrel at 11:21 a.m. London time. Crude closed up 3.3 percent yesterday to settle at $78.90 a barrel, the biggest gain since Sept. 30. The dollar strengthened to $1.4894 against the euro, from yesterday’s close of $1.4970. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will leave its crude production target “as is” at a December meeting and will ask members for better adherence to quotas, Kuwait’s oil minister said. “We will ask for more compliance, that’s all,” Sheikh Ahmed al-Abdullah al-Sabah said in Kuwait City today. The group’s average compliance with its goal of cutting output should be more than 65 percent, he said. “OPEC is signaling it won’t let prices run up too quickly,” Barclays’ Sen said. Angola Meeting OPEC will meet on Dec. 22 in Luanda, Angola, to discuss output targets after agreeing to leave them unchanged at the past three meetings. Brent crude oil for January settlement fell as much as 55 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $78.21 a barrel, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was at $78.43 a barrel at 11:22 a.m. London time. The contract closed up 3.2 percent yesterday. A Bloomberg survey of analysts showed stockpiles of crude grew by 1.2 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 13 from 337.7 million the prior week. Refineries operated at 79.9 percent of capacity, unchanged from the previous week, according to the median of 11 estimates by analysts. Gasoline inventories probably increased by 820,000 barrels from 210.8 million the week before, the survey showed. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell by 750,000 barrels from 167.4 million the prior week, according to the survey. U.S. demand for diesel may increase in coming weeks as farmers return to harvest crops as weather conditions improve, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report dated yesterday. “Harvest activity typically requires significant amounts of diesel to complete,” according to the report. “Poor weather has delayed most U.S. fieldwork in both September and October this year.” The Energy Department is scheduled to release its weekly report tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. To contact the reporters on this story: Rachel Graham in London rgraham13@bloomberg.net

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