By Mark Shenk March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell before a report forecast to show that supplies rose for a sixth week in the U.S., the world’s largest energy-consuming country. Inventories climbed 2 million barrels in the week ended March 5, according to the median of 17 analyst responses in a Bloomberg News survey. Analysts were split over whether gasoline supplies increased or declined and said that stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, slipped 1 million barrels. “Everyone will be looking at the crude number, and it will determine what direction the market takes today,” said Carl Larry, president of Oil Outlooks & Opinions LLC in Houston. “Once the number is out, we may see hedge funds come in and send prices higher. It’s all about investment flow.” Crude oil for April delivery fell 23 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $81.26 a barrel at 9:09 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 78 percent from a year earlier. Brent crude for April delivery fell 16 cents to $79.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The department is scheduled to release its Weekly Petroleum Status Report at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday that inventories of crude oil increased 6.5 million barrels last week. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries predicted members will need to produce 28.94 million barrels a day to satisfy demand in 2010 in a monthly report today. That’s about 190,000 barrels a day more than last month’s projection. To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net

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