Oil rebounds as industry data shows modest US stockpile bid

London - Oil rebounded after industry data showed a smaller-than-expected build in US crude inventories.

Futures rose as much as 1% in New York after closing 3% lower on Tuesday. US stockpiles increased by 1.44 million barrels last week, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute was said to report.

Energy Information Administration data Wednesday is forecast to show supplies rose by 4 million barrels.

Oil has fluctuated since rallying in August amid speculation the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia would agree on measures to stabilize the market at a meeting later this month.

Record output from OPEC’s Gulf members is compounding the global glut which will last into next year, the IEA said Tuesday. The agency last month predicted the market would return to equilibrium this year.

"The statistics from the EIA will be the most important event of the day," Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates, said by phone. The API build was “much less" than expected and boosted prices, he said.

WTI for October delivery was 19 cents higher at $45.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:45 a.m. London time. The contract slid $1.39 to close at $44.90 Tuesday. Total volume traded was 19 percent below the 100-day average.

Global glut

Brent for November settlement was at $47.17 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, up 7 cents. The contract fell $1.22 to $47.10 on Tuesday, the lowest close since September 2.

The global benchmark was at a $1.58 premium to West Texas Intermediate for November.

Consumption growth sagged to a two-year low in the third quarter as demand faltered in China and India, while record output from OPEC’s Gulf members is compounding a supply glut, the IEA said in its monthly report on  Tuesday.

 The agency trimmed projections for global oil demand next year by 200 000 barrels a day to 97.3 million a day.

Oil-market news:

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