Adding to the sentiment were international oil agency estimates of an expected slowdown in global oil demand growth, with the world's two largest oil consumers — the United States and China — reporting flagging growth. Analysts expect prices to keep heading downward in the short term on the back of these estimates. "Last week's bearish stock numbers induced a rather massive selloff and I expect some big moves in the market when the new figures are published this afternoon," said Orrin Middleton, energy analyst at Barclays Capital in London. Middleton said he expected prices to test recent lows. Light sweet crude for September delivery slipped 18 cents to $59.02 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil fell marginally to $1.6032 a gallon while gasoline inched down nearly a cent to $1.6890 a gallon. In London, Brent crude for September delivery was also lower, slipping 25 cents to $57.78 a barrel. The weekly data from the U.S. was expected to show an increase in distillates and gasoline stocks as refineries recover from recent outages at facilities in the storm-hit Gulf of Mexico and begin to ramp up production ahead of the fourth quarter. "There is a lack of bullish news to drive the market," said energy analyst Victor Shum of Texas-based Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "Many traders are looking forward to the U.S. inventory report for direction." Distillates include heating oil, jet fuel and diesel, which become increasingly important during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Refinery utilization rates are already consistently above 90 percent in the United States, the U.S. federal Energy Information Administration said. Crude stocks, however, were expected to fall due to Hurricane Emily, which caused disruptions to oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico last week when it plowed through the region. But Shum said speculation the report would show a drawdown in crude was not worrying traders because stocks in the United States are at five-year highs. The Energy Information Administration also said it has revised down U.S. oil demand in May by 1.5 percent from earlier projections to 20.14 million barrels a day, making it the second straight month in which oil use lagged year-earlier levels. Soaring prices partly caused the drop in projected oil demand, the agency said, adding, however, that it expects U.S. consumption to strengthen in the second half of 2005 due to a warmer summer that would likely boost demand. Oil futures are around 40 percent higher than a year ago. PIN/AP