Oil tumbled to an eight-month low after a report showed that U.S. retail sales weakened and as borrowing costs in Germany and Italy increased.
Futures fell 0.8 percent as Commerce Department figures showed that purchases decreased for a second month. The yield on German and Italian debt climbed in auctions before a Greek election on Sunday. OPEC will probably leave its output target unchanged at a meeting today, two Middle East delegates said.
Crude oil for July delivery dropped 70 cents to $82.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since Oct. 6. Prices are down 16 percent this year.
Brent oil for July settlement slipped 1 cent to end the session at $97.13 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. July futures expire today. The more actively traded August contract fell 25 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $96.72.
Futures rose as much as 0.8 percent in intraday trading after the Energy Department said gasoline supplies fell 1.72 million barrels to 201.8 million last week. Stockpiles were forecast to gain 1.4 million barrels, according to the median of 12 analyst projections in a Bloomberg survey.
Gasoline output surged 5.5 percent to 9.55 million barrels a day, the highest level since August. It was the biggest one-week gain since December 2010.
