West Texas Intermediate fell after a government report showed that U.S. inventories climbed for the seventh time in eight weeks.

Stockpiles rose 1.95 million barrels to 383 million in the week ended Nov. 21, the Energy Information Administration said. A 250,000 barrel supply increase was projected, according to the median of responses in a Bloomberg survey. Brent oil dropped in London after Saudi Arabia's oil minister said prices will stabilize on their own before an OPEC meeting tomorrow.

WTI for January delivery declined 59 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $73.50 a barrel at 10:31 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped to $74.09 yesterday, the lowest close since September 2010.

Brent for January settlement slipped 70 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $77.63 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

U.S. crude output rose 73,000 barrels a day to 9.08 million in the latest week, according to the EIA, the Energy Department's statistical arm.

Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for Nymex futures, rose 1.33 million barrels to 24.6 million, the highest since April.

Gasoline supplies increased 1.83 million barrels to 206.4 million. Stockpiles were projected to have climbed by 1.5 million barrels, according to the median of 11 analyst responses in the Bloomberg survey. Distillate inventories fell 1.65 million barrels to 113.1 million, a six-month low.