Brokers said the market continued profit-taking sales from Monday, with little fresh news seen.By 0755 GMT, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) August delivery crude futures were trading down 18 cents at $31.45 a barrel.Brokers said the market did not breach its settlement price on Monday, where it landed 62 cents lower at $31.63 per barrel, trading from $31.43 to $31.63 a barrel during Asian hours.

The latest bearish pressure was set off on Monday by key exporter Mexico voicing unease at the high oil prices. "I'm not comfortable with $30 (a barrel) oil," Mexico's energy minister Luis Tellez said when asked by reporters how he felt about current US oil prices."If further actions are needed, I suppose they will be taken," he said after a meeting in Houston.Non-Opec Mexico has already agreed to add 75,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) to its exports from July 1 as part of efforts by major oil-producing nations to cool overheated oil markets.The extra oil promised by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has begun to hit markets.

Opec jointly agreed in Vienna last week to raise output by three per cent, or 780,000 barrels-per-day (bpd), from July.This is the second time Opec intervened in the market this year, but less than the 1.7 million bpd hike from April. Opec kingpin Saudi Arabia has offered its Asian and Western term lifters more oil for July this week.Asian buyers said on Tuesday state-owned Saudi Aramco verbally offered them more oil from July, in line with the Opec agreement.

Saudi Arabia had earlier informed Asian term customers that it would cut customers' July crude liftings by 9-11 per cent from the standard contracts.Opec power Kuwait was also releasing more crude oil in the market from July, due partly to the closure of its largest 485,000 bpd Mina al-Ahmadi refinery on Sunday, traders said.

Some units suffered extensive damage in the blast that killed five people and spooked the refined products markets in Europe and Asia.Traders said Kuwait has been offering extra crude to most of its Asian buyers in South Korea, Japan, India and Taiwan on semi-term or spot basis.