Industry group American Petroleum Institute forecast overall Us crude stocks would rise by 6.3 million barrels in the week to November 6 to reach 486.1 million barrels.
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Total oil inventories in developed nations increased by 13.8 million barrels to about 3 billion in September, a month when they typically decline, according to the IEA.
Benchmark US crude futures were at $41.70 a barrel at 0021 GMT, down five cents from Thursday when prices tumbled 4 percent on the back of high rising USA stocks.
WTI prices had pared a few losses in the immediate wake of supply data, after trading at the bottom of its range earlier Tuesday.
The IEA, in its Monthly Oil Market Report, said that ballooning global stockpiles of crude and oil products could worsen the overhang into next year.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery recently fell $1.14, or 2.7%, to $40.61 a barrel on the NY Mercantile Exchange, the lowest intraday level since late August. But the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said its output could trend higher again next year, with a 560,000-barrels per day (bpd) surplus, if it continued pumping at October’s rate of 31.38 million bpd.
Oil prices have collapsed by more than half since mid-2014 with prices languishing under US$50 a barrel, hurt by the supply glut and the decision by oil exporter grouping Opec to maintain output to counter booming USA shale production. “It has also provided a challenging market environment for a few higher-cost crude oil production, which has already shown a slowdown”.
Traders and investors were looking ahead to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday, delayed by a day due to a holiday.
Oil prices have sunk after the United States government reported a big jump in USA crude-oil inventories, reinforcing worries about the long-running global oversupply.
“Over the past few months prices have been receiving support from declining USA oil production”.
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“Saudi Arabia shows no sign of reversing its year-old policy to defend market share rather than price”, in the run-up to OPEC’s next meeting on December 4, the IEA said, despite the kingdom paying for low oil prices with a ballooning budget deficit.
