Crude oil continued to fall on Wednesday despite a surprising decline in the US crude stockpiles.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell 17 US cents to settle at US$47.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Price initially rose to as high as US$48.10 a barrel after the US Energy Department Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a drop of 400,000 barrels in crude inventory last week. The market had predicted it to rise 2 million barrels. Meanwhile, the gasoline and distillate supplies also posted unexpected declines.

But investors are more concerned about the slumping demand. The EIA report showed that the US fuel consumption continued to contract, with daily fuel demand in the past four weeks averaged 19.27 million barrels, 6.2 percent down from one year ago.

In London, Brent crude for January delivery edged up 18 cents to US$45.62 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2008)