Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Crude oil continued to fall on Wednesday despite a surprising decline in the U.S. crude stockpiles.

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

    Price initially rose to as high as 48.10 dollars a barrel after the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 45.62 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.