Oil little changed as market eyes supply data

The price of oil was little changed today as the market awaits the latest data on US crude oil and gasoline supplies.
By early afternoon in New York, US benchmark crude for September delivery was down 5 cents at USD 106.89 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The government's weekly report on America's inventories of crude is expected to show another drop in supplies. Falling supplies helped propel the price of oil to a 16-month high before the price dropped by USD 1.14 a barrel yesterday.
A survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., shows analysts expect a decline in crude oil inventories of 2.6 million barrels for the week ended July 19. That would bring the four-week drop to nearly 30 million barrels.

The American Petroleum Institute will release its report on oil stocks later today, while the report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration, the market benchmark, will be out tomorrow.