Crude oil was little changed after falling below $70 a barrel in New York on declines in the stock markets and speculation that supplies have increased in the largest energy-consuming nation.

Oil retreated as Asian shares fell for the first time in three days and the Standard & Poor¡¯

s 500 Index registered its biggest drop in more than a month. U.S. oil inventories probably rose 1 million barrels last week as refiners processed less crude, a Bloomberg survey of 12 analysts showed before a weekly government report today.

¡°Inventories are relatively high and there¡¯s no strong demand pressure on price,¡± said David Moore, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. ¡°In developed economies, oil demand still seems subdued.¡±

Crude oil for September delivery traded at $69.53 a barrel, up 8 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:26 a.m. in Singapore. Yesterday, the contract fell $1.15, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $69.45. It was the fourth decline and the first time oil settled below $70 this month. Futures have advanced 56 percent in 2009.

An increase in U.S. oil stockpiles would be the third consecutive gain. Gasoline inventories probably dropped 1.2 million barrels last week, according to the survey.

Oil climbed as high as $69.80 today after the American Petroleum Institute reported that U.S. crude oil stockpiles declined 1.42 million barrels to 348.5 million last week.

¡®Bearish Pressures¡¯

The S&P 500 slipped 1.3 percent to 994.35 in New York, partly on concern bank earnings won¡¯t improve in the second half of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 percent to 9,241.45. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.7 percent to 112.02 at 10:06 a.m. in Tokyo, after a two-day climb.

¡°It looks like we¡¯ve picked a direction because the S&P 500 has picked a direction,¡± said Tim Evans, an energy analyst with Citi Futures Perspective in New York. ¡°There¡¯s also some disappointment here that OPEC didn¡¯t add a million barrels a day to their demand forecast or make any significant bullish revision to their outlook.¡±

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries raised its 2010 forecast for supply from outside the group by 210,000 barrels a day to 51.17 million barrels as tax incentives slow the output decline in Russia, the organization said yesterday.

OPEC produced about 28.7 million barrels a day in the second quarter, little changed from the first quarter, the report showed. The Energy Department, in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook yesterday, forecast OPEC output will rise over the rest of the year, unless prices fall sharply.

Oil Demand

The Energy Department cut its forecast for global oil demand to 83.76 million barrels a day this year, down 90,000 barrels a day from last month¡¯s estimate. It also lowered its 2010 demand forecast by 90,000 barrels a day to 84.7 million.

¡°We¡¯re seeing less consumption in OECD economies, but a lot more consumption in places like China,¡± Francisco Blanch, head of global commodities research at Bank of America Corp.¡¯s Merrill Lynch unit, said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development represents 30 industrialized nations, including the U.S., Japan and Germany. The group¡¯s energy security adviser, the International Energy Agency, will release its monthly Oil Market Report at 10 a.m. today in Paris.

A tropical depression that formed off West Africa may turn into the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on its Web site. The storm system was about 400 miles (645 kilometers) west of the southernmost Cape Verde islands at 5 p.m. Miami time, packing sustained winds of about 30 miles an hour.

Severe weather can disrupt oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and refining operations along its coast.

Brent crude oil for September settlement on London¡¯s ICE Futures Europe Exchange traded at $72.36 a barrel, down 10 cents, at 10:28 a.m. in Singapore. Yesterday, the contract fell $1.04, or 1.4 percent, to settle at $72.46.