By Mark Shenk Twenty-three of 50 analysts, or 46 percent, said oil will decline through March 19. Fourteen respondents, or 28 percent, predicted that futures will increase and 13 said there will be little change in prices. Last week analysts were split, with 38 percent of those surveyed forecasting a gain and an equal number looking for a drop. U.S. inventories of crude oil rose 1.43 million barrels to 343 million last week, an Energy Department report on March 10 showed. It was the sixth straight increase and left stockpiles at the highest level since August. “I’m bearish because demand is lagging and supply rising,” said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in New York. Refineries operated at 80.7 percent of capacity last week, down 1.1 percentage points from the previous week. Refiners often schedule maintenance for March as winter heating-fuel consumption wanes and before the pick-up in gasoline demand that occurs in the summer. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to meet in Vienna on March 17. Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp., said “no new decision is expected” at the meeting on production, according to a March 9 statement. “It doesn’t look like OPEC will do anything to change the landscape at next week’s meeting,” Evans said. Crude oil for April delivery has increased 61 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $82.11 a barrel so far this week on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures are up 94 percent from the level they were a year ago. The oil survey has correctly predicted the direction of futures 48 percent of the time since its start in April 2004. --With assistance from Christian Schmollinger, Yee Kai Pin and Ann Koh in Singapore, Michio Nakayama in Tokyo and Grant Smith in London. Editors: Joe Link, Charlotte Porter. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net. Related Articles

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