NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended a dollar lower on Tuesday on forecasts that crude supplies will show an increase when weekly government inventory data are released on Wednesday morning.

The oil markets also remained under pressure after Saudi Arabia's assurance that it would produce more oil if needed.

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On both counts, traders took profits, after last week's gains to above $69, which had lifted crude oil futures by more than $7 since the start of the year.

Crude for March delivery last traded at $67.10 a barrel, after dropping as low as $67 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

February heating oil ended 2.29 cents lower at $1.818 a gallon, after trading between $1.815 and $1.8525.

February gasoline tumbled 5.02 cents to $1.743 a gallon, after falling as low as $1.735. It peaked for the day at $1.743.

"The sell-offs, especially on gasoline, is in anticipation of stock builds" when the Energy Information Administration releases its inventory report for the week to Jan. 20, said Marshall Steeves, analyst at Man Financial.

The late selling temporarily set aside supply concerns involving Nigeria and Iran.

"Obviously, the market is waiting for the EIA data, but I won't be surprised if tomorrow, concerns over Nigeria and Iran overshadow everything else, even if we see stock builds across the board," said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Earlier, crude futures bounced off the day's lows on news that an armed gang dressed in police uniforms attacked the offices of Agip oil company in Nigeria, killing at least nine people.

It was not immediately clear if the attack was by the same militant group which is holding four foreign hostages and has staged a series of attacks on oil facilities in the world's eighth largest exporter over the past month.

Rebels attacked an oil platform operated by Italy's Agip on Monday. Amid the violence, more than 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Nigerian crude production remains shut in.

Analysts in an expanded Reuters survey predicted that U.S. crude inventories rose last week by an average of 1.1 million barrels amid a rebound in imports.

They also projected a 900,000-barrel rise in distillate stocks and a build in gasoline stocks of 1.3 million barrels.

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said world markets were in good shape and promised that Riyadh would produce more oil if needed.

He also said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was likely to keep output steady when it meets on Jan. 31 in Vienna.

Traders continued to watch the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions, as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that Tehran should be referred to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.

Analysts worry that an escalation of the dispute could lead to disruptions of oil supplies from Iran.

U.S. demand for heating fuels is expected to be about 21 percent below normal this week due to warm weather, the U.S. National Weather Service said Monday.

Temperatures in the Midwest should average above normal for the next five days and they should be near to above normal in the Northeast, forecaster Meteorlogix predicted.

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