Oil Slips on Expectation of Bigger US Supplies

The price of oil fell Tuesday on expectations of another increase in U.S. oil supplies.

Benchmark oil for June delivery fell 54 cents to finish at $95.62 per barrel.

The Energy Department releases its weekly report on U.S. oil inventories Wednesday. Addison Armstrong, senior director of market research at Tradition Energy, expects that supplies rose by 2.8 million barrels in the week ended May 3. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect an increase of 1.9 million barrels.

Oil production in the U.S. is the highest in two decades, while demand for gasoline and other fuels remains subdued.

Last week, the Energy Department said supplies rose by 6.7 million barrels, contributing to a more than 2 percent drop in the price of oil.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is apparently adding to ample global supplies. Reports say the Saudis continued to increase crude oil output in April, to around 9.3 million barrels a day. That weighed on oil prices Tuesday.

The added Saudi output “makes it more difficult to reduce the oversupply and allow the oil price to recover,” said a report from Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Brent crude, which is the benchmark for international oil varieties, fell $1.06, to end at $104.40 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:

– Wholesale gasoline dropped 3 cents to finish at $2.83 a gallon.

– Heating oil rose 1 cent to end at $2.93 a gallon.

– Natural gas fell 9 cents to finish at $3.92 per 1,000 cubic feet.

This article appeared in print in the May 9th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.