Oil fell

West Texas Intermediate crude slipped from a four-month high after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. inventories climbed. Brent declined.

WTI dropped for the first time in three days. Crude supplies increased 973,000 barrels in the week ended Feb. 14. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a gain of 2.25 million. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, declined for a third week as the southern leg of TransCanada Corp.’s (TRP) Keystone XL pipeline moved oil to the Gulf Coast.

U.S. crude supplies rose to 362.3 million, the highest level since Dec. 20, the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm, said. Distillate fuel, including heating oil and diesel, declined by 339,000 barrels. Analysts had forecast a drop of 2.1 million in the Bloomberg survey.

Inventories at Cushing, the delivery point for WTI futures, fell to 35.9 million barrels, the lowest level since Oct. 25.

WTI for March delivery, which expires today, fell 26 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $103.05 at 11:14 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures were at $103.12 before the report was released at 11 a.m. in Washington. April crude, the most active contract, slid 17 cents to $102.67. The volume of all futures traded was 23 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for April settlement declined 27 cents to $110.20 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume was 31 percent below the 100-day average. Brent crude was at a premium of $7.53 to WTI for the same month on ICE. The spread settled at $7.63 yesterday.