Oil Up Above $80 On Weak Dollar, Lower Inventories

PABLO GORONDI

Oil prices rose to above $80 a barrel Wednesday, helped by the weaker dollar and a report pointing to a drop in U.S. crude supplies.

By mid-afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for December delivery was up 75 cents to $80.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.47 to settle at $79.60 on Tuesday.

U.S. oil inventories dropped last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Crude stocks were seen falling 3.3 million barrels while analysts had expected a rise of 1.3 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The Energy Information Administration, is scheduled to release its supply data — considered the market benchmark — later on Wednesday.

Crude has fallen from its 2009 high of $82 a barrel last month on investor doubts about the strength of the U.S. economy. Some analysts say the oil price could fall further if a monthly U.S. unemployment report on Friday confirms the number of jobless continues to swell.