Oil Extends Slide After Crude Build Slump By Jonathan Leff SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil extended its retreat on Thursday, taking two-day losses to 6 percent after an unexpectedly large rise in U.S. crude inventories spurred speculative funds to take profits out of record high prices. U.S. light, sweet crude oil fell by more than $1 a barrel in active trade, but recouped some of the losses to stand 64 cents lower at $51.82 a barrel in early European trading. It hit a record high $55.76 three days ago. London Brent crude lost 70 cents to $48.75 a barrel, more than $3 below Wednesday's all-time high. Prices careened lower on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed a bigger-than-expected increase of 4 million barrels in weekly crude oil inventories, narrowing the supply deficit against last year to 9 million barrels. "The crude stock build exceeded expectations and that was an excuse for some guys to take money off the table," said David Thurtell at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. There were also signs of large speculative hedge funds, who have boosted their presence on energy markets this year amid paltry returns in other areas, moving some resources out of oil toward equities and the U.S. dollar, both of which rallied. "We're seeing some fund realignment at the moment," said an oil trader with a major bank in Singapore. Oil is still up nearly 60 percent this year and almost $10 over the past two months, driven by blistering demand growth that has pushed global production to its limit and stoked fears that refiners have not made enough heating oil to last the winter. Analysts say stocks should be replenished more quickly now as refiners emerge from seasonal maintenance, although Wednesday's data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed supplies deeply below 2003 levels. Heating oil stocks fell 600,000 barrels to 48.9 million, about 15 percent below last year, the data showed. With the threat of a pipeline attack in Iraq, a strike in Nigeria or an early winter in the U.S. Northeast, which would cause heating oil usage to spike, still present, analysts were not ready to call an end to this year's rally.     Continued ... Quelle "Oil Extends Slide After Crude Build Slump" : reuters.com Main page for "Oil Extends Slide After Crude Build Slump"