LONDON, Oct 19: World oil prices sank on Wednesday on news of a surprise jump in US gasoline and crude reserves last week, while Hurricane Wilma looked set to avoid storm-weary Gulf Coast installations, dealers said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, plunged $1.60 to $61.60 per barrel in pit trading.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for December delivery shed $1.50 to $57.78 per barrel in electronic deals.

Traders were digesting the latest snapshot from the US Department of Energy, which showed that crude stocks surged over the past week as more supplies came online following recent hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The DoE said crude stocks rose 5.6 million barrels in the week to October 14, almost three times more than forecasts of a 2.0-million-barrel increase.

Gasoline reserves gained 2.77 million barrels, compared with market predictions of a 1.2-million-barrel decrease.

Most analysts had expected a decline as a result of the refinery shutdowns in the US Gulf of Mexico.

“The figures are extremely bearish,” noted Societe General analyst Deborah White. “The crude build is much larger than we expected and the market was expecting a gasoline draw and of course we saw a build.”

Distillates, used for heating oil and diesel fuel, showed a decline of 1.9 million barrels, more than analysts’ forecasts of a decrease of 1.7 million.

White added: “The unexpected factor is just how much they managed to increase gasoline” production at US refineries, while “gasoline imports were the highest ever in my view”.

“Those two things in tandem were enough to flip the market.”

Meanwhile, Hurricane Wilma on Wednesday became the most powerful storm ever recorded in the Atlantic as it hurtled toward Mexico and the US coast — but would likely spare oil infrastructures.—AFP