Brent steady above $56, as US crude stocks edge higher than expected
On Wednesday Brent crude was stable above $56 a barrel. U.S. crude climbed more than $1, after a smaller-than-expected rise in U.S. crude stocks was viewed by some as a sign that a supply surplus was starting to decline. The gains were capped, however, by a warning from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The IEA warned that
ample global production would still swell world inventories before
investment cuts begin to significantly abate output, says Reuters.
After losing $1.91 during the previous session on the IEA expectations, Brent March crude futures had ticked up 28 cents to $56.71 by 0557 GMT.
U.S. March crude futures were trading up 52 cents at $50.54, after falling $2.84 in the previous session.
Last week, U.S. crude stockpilesclimbed less than half of what analysts had expected as refineries cut output, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed after the oil market settled on Tuesday.
As the API said, U.S. crude stocks rose by 1.6 million barrels in the week to Feb. 6, compared with expectations for an increase of 3.7 million barrels.
Earlier on Tuesday the IEA had said the United States will remain the world's top source of oil supply growth up to 2020, even after the recent collapse in prices.
That bearish outlook was supported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which kept its 2015 and 2016 domestic oil output forecasts virtually unchanged from the previous month.
The EIA expects total U.S. oil production in 2015 to be 9.3 million bpd, slightly lower than the 9.31 million bpd forecast in last month's short-term energy outlook.
On Tuesday the chief of Russian energy giant Rosneft said that OPEC had been mistaken in not cutting output in a broadside blaming low oil prices on forces from financial speculators to U.S government policy.
