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 Brent eased 20 cents to $48.95 a barrel by 1131 GMT. On
Wednesday it hit a low of $48.71, the weakest since Oct. 5.
U.S. crude fell 54 cents to $46.10 a barrel after settling down 2
cents at $46.64. Both benchmarks are down around 7 percent so far
this week.
Data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed
U.S. crude stocks rose by 9.4 million barrels in the week to Oct. 9
to 465.96 million, versus analyst forecasts for a 2.8 million
barrels build. [API/S]
Investors are awaiting inventory data from the U.S. government's
Energy Information Administration at 1500 GMT. A poll of nine
analysts predicted a crude stock build of 2.9 million barrels on
average in the week ended Oct. 9. [EIA/S]
Some analysts pointed to further weakness in the months ahead with a
possible eventual interest rate rise in the United States pushing
the dollar higher, which makes oil more expensive for holders of
other currencies.
"So here is the set up: In December the Fed will hike rates and OPEC
will not cut output. In Q1 of 2016, global oil inventories rise
further and oil prices will drop," Bjarne Schieldrop chief commodity
analyst at SEB in Oslo told the Reuters Global Oil forum.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in
December. The producer group is expected to hold to its policy of
maintaining market share, highlighted by Saudi Arabia's push into
Russia's regional market.
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The world's big oil exporters pumped more than half a billion
barrels more crude than needed in the first nine months of this
year, industry data gathered by Reuters and major energy market
forecasters show.
In the first nine months of 2015, China's crude imports rose 8.8
percent to 248.62 million tonnes, which some traders said had lent
the market support.
"We believe the downside potential for oil prices is limited and
expect to see moderately rising prices in the coming weeks and
months," Carsten Fritsch at Commerzbank said.
"After all, there are increasing signs that non-OPEC supply is
already decreasing noticeably as a consequence of the low prices."
(Additional reporting by Meeyoung Cho in Seoul and Henning Gloystein
in Singapore; editing by William Hardy)
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