PVM’s Varga said crude markets could see a few short-covering as a result of a sell-off that has brought Brent down from a high of above $54 a barrel two weeks ago.
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U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November climbed 17 cents to US$46.06 (RM196.029) and Brent crude for December advanced 13 cents to US$48.74 a barrel at around 0300 GMT.
“We don’t need permission from anyone to export our oil, and our production will enter the market”, he said.
U.S. oil production stayed stable from the previous week, EIA data showed, at about 9.1 million barrels a day, after peaking in April at 9.6 million barrels a day.
“There are sufficient inventories of oil and other commodities and demand is weak, especially for industrial commodities, which is why prices may stay persistently low”, said John Baffes, a senior economist at the World Bank who is the lead author of the Commodity Markets Outlook.
Lagging oil demand from China was a bigger factor, said veteran oil analyst Jim Ritterbusch.
Both contracts fell for four straight trading days last week before advancing Friday on the back of data showing a fresh decline in USA oil exploration, which suggested lower output that could help ease the global oversupply.
Inventories expanded by 7.05 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to have reported Tuesday.
“Sentiment on the oil market already appears to be so negative that additional “negative news” is needed to justify any further price fall”, analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a note to clients.
Austria-based OMV lowered its oil price forecasts on Monday and said it would take a €1bn ($1.13bn) impairment charge on asset values in its upstream business. Gupta said the market would be looking at a December 4 policy-setting meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which is expected to “provide vital clues about price development in the medium term”.
Investors awaited official oil inventory figures from the US Energy Information Administration, due at 10:30 a.m. ET to see if they confirmed the API data. Iran is preparing to boost output once world powers remove sanctions on its economy, regardless of any decisions by Opec, oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran.
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In the USA, crude futures for December delivery dropped to $45.64 a barrel, down $.65.
