Oil Heads for Third Weekly Drop Before U.S. Jobs Data

Oil headed for a third weekly decline in New York as concern that supply is exceeding demand outweighed signs of a jobs recovery in the U.S., the world’s largest consumer of crude.

Futures pared losses as the U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 7.8 percent in September, the lowest since January 2009, according to the Labor Department. The country’s crude output climbed to the highest level in more than 15 years last week, the Energy Department said. Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, sees no difficulty in meeting demand, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday.