Oil prices little changed as traders await U.S. supply data

The price of oil was nearly unchanged Tuesday as traders waited for the latest data on U.S. supplies.

Benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery rose 2 cents to close at $99.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, a benchmark for international varieties of oil, fell 66 cents to $107.06 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Data for the week ending May 2 is expected to show an increase of 1.3 million barrels in crude oil stocks and a draw of 900,000 barrels in gasoline stocks, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The projected increase would bring the nation's oil supplies above 400 million barrels. Last week's data showed crude oil supplies at 399.36 million barrels, the highest on record.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

* Wholesale gasoline dropped 2 cents to $2.89 a gallon.

* Heating oil also fell 2 cents to $2.89 a gallon

* Natural gas rose 11 cents to $4.80 per 1,000 cubic feet.