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 Brent, the international benchmark, was up 21 cents at $48.20 a
barrel at 1133 GMT, 11 percent below this month's high.
U.S. crude futures traded up 26 cents at $44.86 a barrel.
"Today, we have a consolidation in the price of oil. From our point
of view the low-to-mid $40s constitutes a decent floor because it's
deep into the cost curve of the U.S. shale oil industry," said Harry
Tchilinguirian, global head of commodity strategy at BNP Paribas.
Investors await the outcome of this week's two-day policy meeting of
the U.S. Federal Reserve, just days after China's surprise fourth
interest rate cut.
The United Arab Emirates oil minister said on Monday he expected an
upward correction in oil prices next year as demand is set to
recover more quickly than expected.
Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said OPEC, of which the UAE is a
member, had agreed to continue following a market-driven strategy,
meaning demand and supply, rather than intervention, would decide
price levels.
Many oil market experts remained bearish about the outlook for
prices, however, as signals strengthened of a widening supply glut
which has already caused crude to lose more than half of its value
since June 2014.
"While our distillate balances suggest that stocks will fall short
of capacity, the margins of error are small and the risks high,
leaving risks to current crude oil prices and timespreads as skewed
to the downside through next spring," analysts at Goldman Sachs
wrote.
Unwanted diesel and jet fuel (distillate) cargoes are backing up
outside Europe's ports and taking longer, slower routes around the
southern tip of Africa to buy time.
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Research consultancy Energy Aspects said product stocks rose by 0.6
million barrels per day in the third quarter.
Rising inventories as well as a mild winter expected for Europe and
North America as a result of an El Nino weather event would likely
lead to reduced refinery production and lower use of crude by
refiners, it added.
Due to low oil prices, investment in the sector in 2016 is likely to
decline further after sliding this year by more than a fifth, Fatih
Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA),
said on Monday.
"If it comes true, this will be the first time in two decades we
will see oil investments declining for two consecutive years and may
be an indication for future oil markets," he said at Singapore
International Energy Week.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein and Keith Wallis in
Singapore; Editing by Dale Hudson and William Hardy)
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