Oil prices retreat on supplies speculation

Oil prices went down for a second day Wednesday as markets expected that U.S. crude supplies rose last week.

Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the U. S. Department of Energy, is scheduled to release a report Thursday on the crude inventories and production data of last week. Analysts expected the U.S. crude supplies to be added 500,000 barrels, near the highest level for this time of year. Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI futures, may also have increased.

U.S. crude production increased 6,000 barrels a day to 8.43 million in the week ending May 16, the most output since October 1986, according to the EIA. Crude stockpiles decreased 7.2 million barrels to 391.3 million in that week.

A trader pointed out there was profit-taking ahead of the EIA' s weekly report.

Brent price got some supports from the increasing tensions of Libya. The disruption of crude exports worsened in this country as rebels shut down a recently reopened oil port.

Libya resumed crude exports in April from some harbors that had been seized by rebels. Markets were used to expect several hundred thousand barrels of Libyan crude would soon flow to the international market.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery moved down 1.39 dollars to settle at 102.72 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery lost 21 cents to close at 109.81 dollars a barrel.