Crude oil fell, snapping three days of gains, on concern an increase in stockpiles in a key storage area in the U.S. shows fuel demand has yet to recover.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, where New York-traded West Texas Intermediate oil is stored, rose for the third time in four weeks. Oil also dropped along with Asian equities ahead of a report from the Labor Department that is forecast to show unemployment in the world’s biggest energy user rose in October.

“Based on fundamentals, we should be in the $50s for oil, not $80s,” said Clarence Chu, a trader at options dealer Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. “Until U.S. starts creating jobs, I wouldn’t say the economy is on the road to recovery, because jobs change how people spend money on goods.”

Crude oil for December delivery fell as much as 79 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $79.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $79.71 a barrel at 2:28 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract rose 80 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at $80.40, the highest close since Oct. 23.

Oil climbed to a one-week high yesterday after a report from the Department of Energy showed total crude supplies unexpectedly declined. Inventories fell 3.94 million barrels last week, the report said. A 1.5 million-barrel increase was forecast, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts.

For more on this: