Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell after an Energy Department report showed that U.S. oil and gasoline inventories unexpectedly rose.

U.S. crude-oil stockpiles climbed 2.81 million barrels to 314.7 million last week, the first gain in four weeks, the report showed. A 750,000 barrel decline was expected, according to the median of 17 responses in a Bloomberg News survey. Imports rose to the highest since the week ended Aug. 17.

``The jump in imports was enough for refiners to increase runs and still leave additional barrels to build stocks,'' said Tim Evans, an analyst with Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in New York. ``The rise in imports is evidence that the declines we saw in recent weeks were a function of inventory management, not a shortage of oil.''

Crude oil for December delivery fell 66 cents, or 0.7 percent, to settle at $93.43 a barrel at 2:57 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures climbed to $98.62 on Nov. 7, the highest intraday price since trading began in 1983. Prices are up 59 percent from a year ago.

The Nymex trading day ends at 5:15 p.m. New York time. Trading for the following day begins at 6 p.m. The crude oil settlement price is unaffected by late-day electronic trading. The contract was down 34 cents a barrel to $93.75 a barrel when the session ended.

Brent crude oil for December settlement fell 42 cents, or 0.5 percent, to close at $90.94 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent reached $95.19 a barrel on Nov. 7, the highest since trading began in 1988. The December contract expired today. The next 13 contract months declined by greater amounts.

Crude-oil inventories in the week ended Nov. 9 were 2.9 percent above the five-year average for the period, the department said.

Increased Imports

Imports of crude oil rose 8.6 percent to 10.5 million barrels in last week, the report showed.

``The gain shouldn't have been a surprise because there was no way that imports were going to stay so low,'' said Brad Samples, commodity analyst for Summit Energy Services Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky. ``The premium of WTI over Brent and some West African grades is a strong incentive to send barrels to the U.S. This should continue to boost inventories.''

Brent, produced in the North Sea, was higher than West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, during the first seven months of this year because of rising crude-oil supplies in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for New York futures, and threats to supply from Nigeria and Iran. The spread has since reverted to the norm, which is for Brent to trade at a discount.

Oil inventories at Cushing rose 11,000 barrels to 13.4 million barrels last week, the report showed. Stockpiles at the delivery hub plunged 28 percent in the pervious four weeks, according to department figures.

Gasoline inventories rose 714,000 barrels to 195 million, according to the report. A decline of 400,000 barrels was expected, according to the survey.

Demand Falls

Total implied fuel demand in the U.S. averaged 20.6 million barrels a day in the four weeks ended Nov. 9, down 0.7 percent from a year earlier, the report showed. The department measures shipments from refineries, pipelines and terminals to calculate fuel demand.

The Energy Department released its weekly report on inventories at 10:30 a.m. in Washington, a day later than usual because of the Veteran's Day holiday on Nov. 12.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut the forecast of demand for its crude oil in 2008 on slowing consumption in the U.S. The group said members will need to supply an average of 30.8 million barrels a day in 2008. The so- called daily call on OPEC crude will increase 80,000 barrels this year.

``Even if demand here were to fall 5 percent, we would still see global growth because of what's happening in India and China,'' said Adam Hewison, president of INO.com, an Annapolis, Maryland-based Web site that provides technical analysis and financial news.

OPEC Meeting

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and his counterparts from Qatar and Algeria said this week that OPEC won't decide on production quotas at a Nov. 17-18 heads-of-state summit in Riyadh, and will instead take up the matter at a Dec. 5 meeting of oil ministers in Abu Dhabi.

``OPEC shouldn't be blamed for the price of oil; it's out of our hands,'' said Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al- Attiyah. ``It's speculators who are putting money in oil.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 15, 2007 17:29 EST