THE price of oil fell yesterday on expectations of another increase in US oil supplies.

West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark crude in the US, fell 54 cents to finish at US$95.62 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Energy Department releases its weekly report on US oil inventories today. Addison Armstrong, senior director of market research at Tradition Energy, expects 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 US 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 yesterday.

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 US$1.06 to end at US$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 US$2.83 a gallon.

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

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