Oil was little changed after excess global supplies pushed the market into the deepest slump in six years. Opec can't halt the price slide on its own and needs producers outside the group to help in reducing supplies, Algeria's energy minister said. US crude inventories, more than 90 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average, decreased last week by the smallest amount this year, according to a Bloomberg survey before data due Wednesday. Futures in both New York and London have traded in a bear market since last month amid signs that the glut will persist. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could boost output to a record 33 million barrels a day after sanctions on Iranian shipments are removed, Iran's Opec representative said.
"The primary factor remains excess supply and now you have to add growing fears about demand falling," Gene McGillian, a senior analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, said by phone. "Now that we've dropped to 2009 levels it's become more difficult to make dramatic moves lower. The market still has to find its bottom."
West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose 9 cents to $41.96 a barrel at 9:29 am on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 63 cents to $41.87 on Monday, the lowest close since March 2009. The volume of all futures traded was 12 percent below the 100-day average. Prices have decreased 21 percent this year.
Brent for October settlement slipped 17 cents to $48.57 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark oil traded at a $6.03 premium to the October WTI contract.
