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Benchmark U.S. crude futures <CLc1> slipped to a two-week low at
$43.55 a barrel in early trading before trimming losses to trade
down 59 cents at $43.62 a barrel by 1211 GMT (07:11 a.m. EST).
Brent crude futures <LCOc1> were down 34 cents at $47.10 a
barrel.
The price drops came on rising stockpiles in North America and
slowing economies in Asia.
U.S. crude stocks jumped by 6.3 million barrels in the week to
Nov. 6 to 486.1 million barrels, data from industry group the
American Petroleum Institute showed late on Tuesday, compared
with analyst expectations for an increase of 1 million barrels.
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. A Reuters survey showed stockpiles likely rose
for the seventh consecutive week.
"You're seeing more of a plateau in U.S. production rather than
a decline, I've been expecting a decline in 2016 but I think the
market is in a mode of show us rather than tell us and they're
just not seeing the numbers," said Michael Hsueh, analyst at
Deutsche Bank.
"It's still looking quite difficult for those that are hoping
for or expecting a recovery in prices."
Hsueh said Deutsche Bank expects global oversupply of around 1
million barrels per day in the first half of 2016.
OPEC member Ecuador's oil minister said on Wednesday that the
only way to balance the market was to cut production and that it
aimed to reach an agreement on that at the group's December
meeting.
On the demand side, confidence among Japanese manufacturers fell
in November for a third straight month to levels unseen in more
than two years, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday, reflecting
fears that a China-led slowdown in overseas demand may have
pushed Asia's second-biggest economy into recession.
"The weakness of global manufacturing activity is ... putting
pressure on energy demand," JBC Energy said, adding that it
expected a significant drop in oil demand growth in 2016.
In China, factory output grew slower than expected at an annual
5.6 percent in October, data showed on Wednesday, slightly below
analyst forecasts of 5.8 percent and down from 5.7 percent in
September.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore,
additional reporting by Simon Falush; Editing by William Hardy)
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