In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said crude oil supplies fell 1.2 million barrels last week, less than the 2 million barrel decline expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts.

The report also said demand for gasoline is down 1.8 percent, on average, over the last four weeks compared to last year. But gasoline supplies fell 1.2 million barrels, where analysts were expecting an increase of nearly 1 million barrels.

The mixed news caused prices to jump more than a dollar immediately after the EIA report was issued. Later, light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $1.48 to $132.53 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In a separate report Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, said gasoline demand fell 1.4 percent in May, as measured by deliveries, dragging year-to-date demand for gasoline down by 1 percent. That’s the first decline in gasoline demand over the first five months of any year since 1991, API said.

Demand for oil over the first five months of the year was off 2.5 percent from last year, API said.

Oil prices slid Wednesday after the Energy Department said crude oil supplies fell less than expected last week while demand for gasoline dropped nearly 2 percent

Retail gas prices slipped slightly for a second day, a sign that falling demand may be affecting prices and that prices at the pump may have caught up to crude oil’s latest record advance.

In Washington, President Bush renewed his call to open U.S. coastal waters to oil and gas development to boost production and bring prices down. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist dropped his long-standing support for the federal government’s moratorium on offshore drilling.

At the pump, the average national price of a gallon of gas slipped 0.3 cent overnight to $4.075 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. It was the second straight decline, bringing prices half a cent below their latest record of $4.08 a gallon, set Monday.

“I think retail prices … are as close to stasis based on crude prices as they can be,” said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J.

With demand for gasoline falling steadily since January, retailers have had a hard time hiking gas prices fast enough to keep up with rising crude prices. While oil prices have risen 94 percent over the past year, and set a new record of $139.89 a barrel early this week, gas prices are up only 36 percent. That discrepancy has put pressure on the profit margins of companies all along the gasoline supply chain, including refiners, distributors and retailers.

Midwest flooding may create a new wrinkle in the gas price equation; corn and ethanol prices are rising as a result of crop damage and transportation bottlenecks. Rising prices for ethanol, which is used as a gasoline additive, could push gas prices still higher. However, if crude prices continue falling, gas prices could extend their declines.

Beyond the EIA report, the oil market continued to mull the impact of a Saudi Arabian pledge to step up oil production as well as overseas supply disruptions.

“There is still no word from the Saudis as to how much oil they are going to release,” said Edward Meir, an analyst at an analyst at MF Global UK Ltd., in a research note.

In Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and a major U.S. supplier, white-collar oil industry workers have threatened a strike against a Chevron Corp. unit. Meanwhile, the main militant group blamed for attacks that have significantly cut Nigerian oil production in recent years said it would not take part in a peace summit next month.

Separately, oil exports from Iraq and Kuwait have been disrupted for the past four days due to bad weather, said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn.

In other Nymex trading, July gasoline futures fell 3.54 cents to $3.3825 a gallon, and July heating oil futures fell 8.24 cents to $3.7398 a gallon. The EIA said supplies of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by 2.6 million barrels last week, more than expected.

July natural gas futures rose 13.8 cents to $13.09 per 1,000 cubic feet. Natural gas prices last settled over $13 in December 2005, as they were receding from a spike above $15 in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In London, August Brent crude fell 96 cents to $132.76 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.