Oil eases off 6-month high ahead of inventory data

SINGAPORE (AP) " Oil prices eased back from six-month highs Thursday in Asia as investors looked to a weekly U.S. inventory report for signs of crude demand may be recovering.

Benchmark crude for July delivery was down 53 cents to $62.92 a barrel by midday in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract rose $1 to settle at $63.45, a six-month high.

Traders believe that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep output levels unchanged at a meeting Thursday in Vienna. Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi predicts that oil prices will likely reach around $75 a barrel by the end of the year on the back of growing demand in Asia.

"OPEC is trying to get the world more conformable with the idea of $75-80 oil," said Jonathan Kornafel, Asia director for market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore.

Oil prices have rebounded from below $35 a barrel as investors anticipate demand will improve later this year. Traders, concerned that a massive U.S. fiscal stimulus package will eventually weaken the dollar, have also used crude oil as a hedge against inflation.

"As long as money is being printed left and right you're going to see it flow into the commodity markets and crude keep going higher," Kornafel said.

Investors will be watching for the weekly petroleum inventory data from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration on Thursday.

Analysts expect an increase of 1.8 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. Stocks have dropped the last two weeks after rising for the previous ten.

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for June delivery fell 1.72 cents to $1.87 a gallon and heating oil dropped 0.89 cent to $1.55 a gallon. Natural gas for June delivery was steady at $3.54 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent prices fell 56 cents to $61.94 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.