Oil prices fell to near $99 a barrel Wednesday November 30, 2011 in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude inventories rose more than expected, suggesting demand is tepid.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 65 cents to $99.14 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.58 to settle at $99.79 on Tuesday.

In London, Brent crude was down 11 cents at $110.71 on the ICE futures exchange.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories rose 3.4 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had predicted an increase of 1 million barrels.