LONDON, July 19: World oil prices stabilized on Tuesday as Hurricane Emily looked set to pass by without causing too much damage to oil rigs, and as traders expected stormy Gulf of Mexico weather to impact on US stocks data.

Fears over US Gulf oil rigs had earlier eased as Hurricane Emily weakened, and the Miami Hurricane Centre (MHC) downgraded her to a category one hurricane from a previous category four.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, dipped 39 cents to $56.93 per barrel in early dealing.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September added eight cents to $57.07 per barrel.

Oil prices were “marginally softer as Hurricane Emily fears subsided”, noted Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.

Analysts expected Wednesday’s weekly US government snapshot of crude inventories data to reflect production shutdowns in the Gulf of Mexico.

Stock levels are expected to fall again owing to Hurricane Dennis which caused disruption at US oil platforms and refineries at the start of the month.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut its estimate for oil demand this year by 150,000 barrels a day on Monday.

Opec’s cut put total annual growth for the year at 2.0 percent or an extra 1.62 million barrels per day compared with 2004.—AFP