Concerns
about a slowdown in the global economy, particularly key energy
consumer China, combined with an oversupply have seen crude prices
tumble more than 60 percent from last year's peaks above USD 100 a
barrel.
Prices
took another hit yesterday when the US Department of Energy (DoE)
said output at home rose 19,000 barrels per day to 9.136 million,
snapping a six-week run of lower production.
The
news came hours after it was announced that a gauge of factory
activity in China had hit a six-and-a-half-year low in September -
overshadowing figures showing US commercial crude inventories sank
1.9 million barrels in the week ending September 18. Both main
contracts edged up in electronic trade today.
US
benchmark West Texas Intermediate was 0.90 percent higher at USD
44.88 a barrel, while Brent crude added 0.67 percent to USD 48.07.
However,
David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, told Bloomberg
News: "All the factors that sent oil lower are still there. "Oil
seems to be holding in a range but the market really needs to see
sustainable cuts to production."
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