LONDON, April 21: World oil prices fell on Thursday as markets reckoned on there being sufficient crude supplies despite a drop in US inventories for the first time in more than two months. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, dropped 73 cents to $53.30 per barrel in early deals.

The May contract expired on Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $52.44.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in June lost 58 cents to $53.20 per barrel.

“There is a realization that despite the first fall in crude stocks in 10 weeks, US stocks are relatively healthy,” Energy Information Centre analyst Veronica Smart said.

Saudi Arabia was meanwhile supplying customers with all the oil they wanted, the kingdom’s Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said on Thursday in Paris.

He was responding to comments by US President George W. Bush on Tuesday urging the oil kingpin to take account of high oil prices on the world economy.

Questioned during the sixth international oil summit in the French capital, the minister said: “I will repeat. Saudi Arabia is not responsible for the price of oil in the market.”

US stocks of crude oil and gasoline fell over the past week, after nine weeks of consecutive increases, according to government data published on Wednesday.

Crude stockpiles for the week ending April 15 fell by 1.8 million barrels to 318.9 million barrels, against Wall Street expectations for a rise of 1.5-2.0 million, the US Department of Energy (DoE) said.

“Crude stocks are still around nine per cent higher than at this time last year, so people realise that the fall in US stocks was not quite as bad as people were assuming,” Smart added.

“Gasoline stocks are also healthy. If we see another fall in stocks next week, it might become an issue, but at the moment, stocks are very comfortable in the US.”

The DoE reported that gasoline stockpiles had fallen 1.5 million barrels to 211.6 million over the week, a possible concern ahead of the US driving season, when many Americans take to the road for holidays.—AFP