Oil prices declined below USD 77 a barrel on Thursday after US Energy Information Administration reported rise in crude oil inventories by 1.8 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 6, 2009.

Benchmark crude for December delivery lost USD 2.34 to settle at USD 76.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil declined 6.48 cents to settle at USD 1.991 a gallon. Gasoline for December delivery fell 5.22 cents to settle at USD1.9405 a gallon.

In London, Brent crude for December delivery dropped USD1.93 to settle at USD 76.02 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Natural gas for December delivery went down 13.3 cents to settle at USD 4.37 per 1,000 cubic feet.