SINGAPORE: Oil prices on Thursday recovered from losses chalked up the session before, but the market remains under pressure as bloated US crude inventories and rising output dampen OPEC-led efforts to curb global production.
Prices for front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, were at US$50.95 per barrel at 0033 GMT, up 31 cents from their last close. That came after Brent briefly dipped below US$50 a barrel the previous session for the first time since November.
In the United States, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 33 cents at US$48.38 a barrel, after testing support at US$47 a barrel overnight.
Despite the bounce on Thursday, traders said that prices remained under pressure, largely due to a bloated US market and doubts that an effort led by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output were having the desired effect of reining in a global fuel supply overhang.
Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader, said OPEC was “underwriting the investment plans and returns of their competition in US shale oil.”
McKenna said there was a risk of oil prices dropping further due to US output and a lack of compliance by some producers who said they would cut production.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said US inventories climbed almost 5 million barrels to a record 533.1 million last week, far outpacing forecasts of a 2.8 million-barrel build.
The high inventories come as US oil production has risen over 8 percent since mid-2016 to more than 9.13 million barrels per day (bpd) to levels comparable in late 2014, when the oil market slump started.--REUTERS