NEW YORK — Oil prices dipped below $64 a barrel Wednesday ahead of a government report that may show U.S. crude supplies are rising, with consumer demand still sluggish in the world's biggest economy.
Benchmark crude for September delivery dropped $1.04 to $64.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling as low as $63.76. In London, Brent prices fell $1.14 to $65.73 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Energy prices have risen over the past week as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy was improving and companies reported strong second-quarter earnings.
But Wednesday, traders focused on an estimate from the American Petroleum Institute that said U.S. crude in storage rose 3.1 million barrels last week while gasoline supplies rose by 1.3 million barrels.
The government's Energy Information Administration will release its supply figures Wednesday morning.
Bulging oil supplies can suggest that the economy is not recovering as quickly as many had hoped.
Even though crude in storage has been siphoned off somewhat, the supply of gasoline has surged by 13 million barrels in five weeks. That is directly related to the mood of consumers.
Retail sales for gasoline are falling, even though a gallon costs 36 percent less than last year.
At the pump, retail gas prices added less than a penny overnight to a new national average of $2.461 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's about 23 cents cheaper than a month ago, when gas prices peaked for the year. Gas still cost more than $4 per gallon at this time last year.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for August delivery slipped by nearly 3 cents to $1.7855 a gallon and heating oil dropped less than a penny to $1.6919. Natural gas for August delivery added 1.8 cents to fetch $3.723 per 1,000 cubic feet.
