Internationally traded Brent was at $44.62 a barrel, up 15 cents.
Advertisement
Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said $40 a barrel has been a “tough support level” psychologically and in terms of technical trade.
“Temperatures in Europe will see a significant drop over the weekend [and] European traders will start next week in winter mode”, said Olivier Jakob from the Swiss-based analysts Petromatrix.
Front-month US crude futures initially rose towards $42 per barrel in early trading but then dipped back to $41.75 a barrel by 0320 GMT, nearly flat with its last settlement.
Please enter your email.
Analysts expect another build in the inventories, which would indicate weaker demand in the world’s top oil consuming nation.
A narrower spread tends to encourage a greater flow of oil from overseas into the US market as crude grades that are pegged to the pricier Brent benchmark become more affordable.
Little has changed since Wednesday, when the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported U.S. crude supplies increased by 300,000 barrels last week.
Morgan Stanley said it sees an average crude oil oversupply of only 700,000 to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) for 2015, not the 1.5 million to 2.5 million bpd figures often cited.
Goldman and other analysts say persistently high US shale oil output that producers aren’t allowed to export could overwhelm the country’s storage tanks, which are already filled with near-record inventories.
Earlier, oil prices rose slightly, with some investors keen to buy at what they perceive to be bargain levels, but persistent gluts of crude and refined fuel kept gains slight.
“Copper and crude oil prices are likely to remain under pressure short-term”, ANZ bank said in a morning note on Monday.
January prices for WTI are about $1.40 a barrel higher than December.
Money managers cut their net long US crude futures and options positions to the lowest in three months during the week to 10 November, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Monday.
‘The market is being overwhelmed by rising supply, ‘ said Michael Corcelli, chief investment officer of hedge fund Alexander Alternative Capital LLC in Miami.
Advertisement
“Due to the intensifying demand for oil amidst times of uncertainty, oil prices historically increase due to global conflict”, added Jonathan Sudaria at London Capital Group.
