Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil was little changed near a three-day low in New York after a government report showed that U.S. fuel demand declined to the lowest in almost five years.

Consumption averaged 19.5 million barrels a day during the past four weeks, down 6.6 percent from a year earlier, and the lowest since October 2003, the Energy Department said in a weekly report. Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell more than forecast in August, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday, a sign of the weakness in the economy.

``Oil has been on the slide and it's all driven by the slowdown in the U.S. demand,'' said Mark Pervan, a senior commodity strategist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne. ``Demand is off because the U.S. is heading to a recession. All the indicators are suggesting the consumer is finding it tough out there.''

Crude oil for November delivery was at $105.77 a barrel, up 4 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:45 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, futures dropped 88 cents to settle at $105.73 a barrel, the lowest close since Sept. 19.

Production platforms, refineries and ports along the Gulf of Mexico were shut last week in the aftermath of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

``The way that demand looks at the moment, oil could push toward $100,'' said Toby Hassall, a research analyst with Commodity Warrants Australia Ltd. in Sydney. ``We saw some supply shocks with Gustav and Ike and they weren't enough to provide much of an upward spike in prices.''

Production Idled

Ike made landfall near Houston, the largest U.S. petroleum port, on Sept. 13. The Houston Ship Channel partly reopened to daylight transit by oceangoing tankers on Sept. 17. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the biggest U.S. oil-import terminal, resumed tanker unloading on Sept. 15 after being shut Sept. 10.

U.S. energy producers still have about 62 percent of oil production idled in the Gulf, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said in a statement on its Web site. The area accounts for about 26 percent of U.S. oil output.

``The problem is the slow demand in the U.S. so they don't really need the materials,'' said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Astmax Ltd. in Tokyo. ``Even with the import capacity being shut down due to the hurricanes, the U.S. is still comfortable, even with the low level of capacity runs.''

U.S. oil and gasoline supplies dropped as refineries cut operating rates to the lowest in at least 19 years.

Supplies of crude oil fell 1.52 million barrels to 290.2 million in the week ended Sept. 19, the department said. Crude- oil imports tumbled 16 percent to 7.14 million barrels a day, the lowest since January 2000.

Pemex Shuts

Gasoline stockpiles dropped 5.9 million barrels to 178.7 million barrels, the lowest since 1967. Inventory levels prior to 1990 were reported on a monthly basis. Supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, fell 4.18 million barrels to 125.4 million barrels.

Petroleos Mexicanos, the third-largest supplier of crude to the U.S., said it shut in 9 percent of its production capacity as U.S. refiners reduced, delayed or canceled deliveries of Mexican oil after Hurricane Ike.

Output was cut by 250,000 barrels yesterday because Pemex, as the Mexico City-based company is known, ran out of storage space, the company said in an e-mail. Ike hit the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast on Sept. 13.

Pemex exported 1.41 million barrels a day of crude in August, about 80 percent of which was sold to U.S. refiners. Pemex has long-term contracts to supply Valero Energy Corp. and Deer Park, its joint-venture with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company.

Refinery Utilization

Refineries operated at 66.7 percent of capacity last week, the lowest since the department began compiling weekly figures in 1989. The previous low was 69.8 percent of capacity, touched in September 2005, when refineries along the Gulf Coast were shut after hurricanes Katrina and Rita battered the region.

Brent crude oil for November settlement was at $102.61 a barrel, up 16 cents, on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange at 11:22 a.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, it declined 63 cents, or 0.6 percent, to settle at $102.45 a barrel yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at christian.s@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 25, 2008 00:57 EDT