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SINGAPORE, June 8 (Reuters) Oil prices slipped towards $70 on Thursday, adding to sharp losses the previous day after government data showed rising crude and fuel inventories in the world's top oil consumer, the United States.

U.S. crude oil traded 21 cents down at $70.61 a barrel by 0301 GMT, after sliding $1.68 or 2 percent on Wednesday. London Brent crude eased 14 cents to $69.05 a barrel.

Crude supplies rose 1.1 million barrels last week in the U.S. on lower refinery output, the Energy Information Administration said, compared to analyst forecasts of a decline. This took stocks 4.2 percent above this time last year.

''The crude build -- due to unexpectedly high imports -- was a surprise,'' said JPMorgan. ''Gasoline demand eased as anticipated...this put demand on a year-on-year basis up an anemic 0.7 percent.'' Gasoline stocks increased for the sixth week to gain 1 million barrels, while distillate supplies rose by 1.8 million barrels, providing a more comfortable supply cushion during peak summer demand. Gasoline futures led losses on Thursday, down 0.8 percent at $2.108 a gallon.

Adding to pressure, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Wednesday said that recent data showed high oil prices are starting to impact the U.S. economy.

OPEC President Edmund Daukoru told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that rising inflation could hit demand for oil, but with prices over $70 the producer group should keep world markets oversupplied. The cartel agreed last week to keep output steady.

Prices have pulled back from a record $75.35 in April but remain 16 percent up this year, boosted by supply disruptions in Nigeria and tension over Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran's top oil official said on Wednesday the country could still use the oil card if needed, taking the shine off positive signals earlier in the week from Tehran on a package of incentives by world powers aimed at persuading the world's fourth largest oil exporter to stop enriching uranium.

''We need oil exports because currency that comes from them should be used to build infrastructure. However, if we feel we have to, we will defend our rights,'' Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh told Iran's official news agency.

Washington believes Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, but Iran says it only wants to generate electricity.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rattled oil markets earlier this week after he said oil flows from the Gulf would be endangered if Washington made a ''wrong move''.

Traders also remain on edge over supply disruptions in Nigeria, the world's eight largest exporter, after militants attacked a Shell-operated facility in the Niger Delta, killing soldiers and kidnapping five South Korean contractors.

The attack came just three days after eight foreign oil workers were released by a different group of kidnappers, and is the latest in a series of militant attacks that has cut a quarter of the OPEC member's oil production.

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