MTECHTIPS

MTECHTIPS:-Crude dips as Hurricane Sandy threatens U.S. coast

Crude oil futures fell in Asian trading on Monday as Hurricane Sandy threatened to converge with other weather systems into a super storm and disrupt oil operations along a wide swath of the U.S. east coast.On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at USD85.98 a barrel on Monday, down 0.34%, off from a session high of USD86.08 and up from an earlier session low of USD85.94.Sandy's wind field will cover a wide area of the U.S. eastern seaboard, prompting refineries in the area to scale back on crude purchases, which pushed down prices as did concerns that inventories were on the rise in the U.S.Late last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories jumped up by 5.9 million barrels in the week ended October 19, well beyond market calls for an increase of 1.9 million barrels.Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 375.1 million barrels as of last week.