Oil prices continue to fall as supplies grow

Oil prices extended losses Thursday as the outlook for supply remained robust.

Benchmark U.S. crude for August delivery was down 36 cents to $101.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.11 to close at $102.29 on Wednesday.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, inched down 1 cent to $108.46 on the ICE exchange in London.

Oil has been falling steadily for more than a week partly because worries about disruptions of the oil supply from Iraq have subsided and Libyan oil is returning to the global market. Oil hit a 10-month closing high of $107.26 on June 20.

Labor and political strife has shut ports and disrupted production in Libya but agreements with local militias are now expected to open two ports. A major field restarted production Tuesday. Analysts said crude shipments could ramp up very quickly because oil has accumulated in tanks at the closed ports.

On Wednesday, government data showed that a fall in U.S. oil supply was smaller than expected. The U.S. Energy Department reported that U.S. crude oil supplies fell by 2.4 million barrels last week. Analysts expected a 3 million barrel decline. The department had revised up its estimate for U.S. crude production for this year and next year.

In other energy futures trading:

- Wholesale gasoline inched up 0.3 cent to $2.935 a gallon.

- Natural gas rose 0.3 cent to $4.173 per 1,000 cubic feet.

- Heating oil added 0.7 cent to $2.872 a gallon.