NEW YORK Oil slipped to near $98 per barrel Tuesday as investors anticipate increased crude production from OPEC countries. Benchmark crude for July delivery gave up 62 cents at $98.39 per barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected to discuss a change in its production quotas at the cartel's meeting Wednesday in Vienna. Analysts say ministers could increase production in an attempt to push fuel prices lower and take some pressure off the world economy. The move would be largely symbolic since most OPEC countries already produce more than their daily quota. Raising the quota could allow some countries to boost production even more. "There's a lot of people who are nervous ahead of those meetings," independent oil analyst Jim Ritterbusch said. After a slew of gloomy reports on gasoline demand, unemployment, consumer confidence, housing and manufacturing, oil investors are less confident that oil will rise in the short term, Ritterbusch said. "You're seeing a big rush to the exits on the part of hedge funds," he said. Still, major investment banks say oil is headed higher later this year and into 2012. Rising global demand -- driven by China and other emerging economies -- will keep pressure on oil supplies. Those forecasts were supported Tuesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration's monthly outlook. The EIA said world oil demand will grow by 1.7 million barrels per day this year and another 1.6 million barrels per day in 2012. And despite a recent decline in gasoline consumption in the U.S., the government says drivers will burn an additional 3.4 million gallons per day in 2012. "Motor gasoline is the fastest growing consumption category in 2012, reflecting growing population, rising employment and income," the government said in its Short Term Energy Outlook for June. Meanwhile, gasoline pump prices dropped another penny Tuesday to a national average of $3.761 per gallon. A gallon of regular is 20.5 cents cheaper than it was a month ago, but it's still $1.037 higher than the same time last year. In other Nymex trading for July contracts, heating oil added 2 cents at $3.0356 per gallon and gasoline futures lost a penny at $2.9618 per gallon. Natural gas gave up 1 cent at $4.816 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, Brent crude, which influences the price of oil imported by refineries in the Northeast, rose after Goldman Sachs reported a decline in supplies from the North Sea, where Brent is produced. Brent rose 70 cents to $115.18 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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