NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude futures pushed above $80 a barrel Wednesday ahead of oil inventory data and a Federal Reserve meeting in which the Fed is widely expected to maintain its support for a low interest rate policy. Light, sweet crude for December delivery recently traded 70 cents, or 0.9%, higher at $80.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded 58 cents higher at $78.69 a barrel. Oil inventories dropped last week, according to the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group that released its supply survey on Tuesday. The API said crude oil stocks fell 3.3 million barrels, while gasoline stocks rose 500,000 barrels and distillate inventories climbed 1.8 million barrels. Despite the gains in refined product stockpiles, a large drop in crude inventories would be taken in the oil market as a sign that supplies have crested, after rising for more than a year due to weak demand. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly report on the U.S. supply picture later Wednesday morning. Analysts gave an average forecast for a 1.4-million-barrel increase in oil inventories in a Dow Jones Newswires survey. Gasoline stockpiles are seen falling 100,000 barrels and distillate inventories, including heating oil and diesel, are expected to drop 1 million barrels. Refinery utilization is seen falling 0.1 percentage point to 81.7% of capacity. "Obviously oil inventories will come into play today, but they will be overshadowed by whatever the Fed may do or not do," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at PFGBest in Chicago. If the Fed continues to stay the course on its ultra-low interest rate policy, it will keep the dollar weak against other major currencies, boosting oil prices, Flynn said. Dollar-denominated oil tends to rise in value when the dollar weakens, as the commodity becomes cheaper for holders of other currencies. Crude futures were pushed above $80 a barrel last month for the first time in a year when the dollar fell to below $1.50 to a euro. The dollar is slightly stronger now at $1.4793 to the euro, but is less likely to strengthen in the short term if the Fed keeps its rates low. Flynn also noted that news that India's purchase of 200 metric tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund also gave oil a boost Wednesday. The purchase sparked a rally in gold prices, which lent support to other commodities, including oil. In crude products trading, front-month December reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, recently traded 82 points higher at $2.0086 a gallon. December heating oil 67 points higher at $2.0800 a gallon.

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