TN PETRÓLEO

World oil prices eased on Tuesday in a market underpinned by below-normal gasoline inventories in the United States, dealers said.

Traders are switching their attention to Wednesday`s weekly snapshot of American energy stockpiles from the US Department of Energy.

In electronic trading on Tuesday, Brent North Sea crude for August delivery lost 45 cents to 70.26 dollars per barrel.

New York`s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, slid 32 cents to 68.86 dollars per barrel in electronic deals before the official open of the US market.

"We have below normal inventory levels of gasoline in the US continuing to underpin the market," said Victor Shum, senior principal at Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

Shum said US crude oil inventories are at a nine-year high but persistent refinery outages continued to prompt concerns over the ability to meet demand as the peak summer holiday driving season continues in North America.

Analysts from Societe Generale said US gasoline demand keeps growing and seems on track to challenge a record set in July 2005.

The London-based Centre for Global Energy Studies had warned Monday that the price of oil will soar in the coming months unless the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ramps up output.

But any significant increase in production was unlikely to help while refineries still face problems processing the crude into gasoline, analysts said.

Sucden analyst Michael Davies added: "Oil drew support (on Monday) from news of problems at Exxon Mobil`s plant in Baytown, Texas and maintenance at Total`s Port Arthur in Texas, which regurgitated concerns over supply shortages during the peak driving season in the US."

Crude futures had also edged higher on Monday as traders digested the end of a general strike in Nigeria that had threatened exports from the world`s sixth-biggest crude producer.

Last Friday, prices had surged as traders fretted over potential disruptions to exports from Nigeria. But Nigerians returned to work on Monday following the four-day general strike.

Nigeria is Africa`s largest producer with 2.6 million barrels per day of crude, but the country is losing about one quarter of supplies because of unrest in the oil-producing south.