July 16, 2003	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 15, 1424

LONDON, July 15: Oil prices fell slightly in choppy trading on Tuesday as concerns about the imminent arrival of Hurricane Claudette off the oil-rich coast of Texas were offset by predictions of improved US crude stocks.

The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for August delivery fell eight cents per barrel to $28.88.

New York’s light sweet crude August contract was showing a loss of five cents to $31.22 in early trading.

The markets were preparing for an expected boost to US inventories of crude oil in figures released on Wednesday by both the US Department of Energy (DoE) and the American Petroleum Institute (API).

“We are waiting for the API and DoE stats of tomorrow, and we expect a build of 1.0 to 1.5 million barrels for crude stocks,” said GNI-Man Financial trader Kevin Blemkin.—AFP