Oil Prices Fall on Inventory Reports

Bangkok, Thailand, February 7, 2008--Oil prices fell Thursday in Asia to under $87 per barrel after the U.S. government reported  large jumps in stockpiles of crude, gasoline and heating oil.

In its weekly inventory report, the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories jumped 7 million barrels last week, nearly triple the 2.6 million barrel increase that analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected.

Gasoline stocks grew 3.6 million barrels last week, double the estimate. Inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose 100,000 barrels, despite analyst expectations that supplies would fall.