Market and product

Oil traded near $48 a barrel as investors weighed OPEC’s forecast for increased global demand against rising U.S. crude stockpiles and production.

Futures were little changed in New York, after declining 1.5 percent on Wednesday. Demand will climb more than projected this year on low prices, OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said in a statement to the International Monetary Fund. U.S. inventories expanded by 3.07 million barrels through Oct. 2 as production rose and refinery processing rates fell, according to government data.

Oil has fluctuated below $50 a barrel after prices slumped to a six-year low in August amid speculation a global glut will persist. U.S. stockpiles remain about 100 million barrels above the five-year average and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries continues to pump more than its quota.

“If we can see some stability in demand and some reduction in supply then we could see a more sustained rally,” David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone. “An increase in U.S. inventories and slowing refinery rates is going to put up some headwinds.”

West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was at $48.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 26 cents, at 7:49 a.m. London time. The contract dropped 72 cents to $47.81 on Wednesday. The volume of all futures traded was about 65 percent above the 100-day average. Prices have decreased 9.8 percent this year.

Oil Demand

Brent for November settlement was 43 cents higher at $51.76 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It slid 59 cents to $51.33 on Wednesday. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $3.68 to WTI.

Global oil demand will increase by 1.5 million barrels a day this year, El-Badri said in the statement to the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee. There is a supply overhang of about 200 million barrels in the market, El-Badri said at a conference in London on Monday.

U.S. crude stockpiles increased for a second week to 461 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Output climbed by 76,000 barrels a day to 9.17 million as refinery utilization dropped by 2.3 percentage points, the EIA said.

Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI contracts and the biggest U.S. oil-storage hub, expanded by 98,000 barrels to 53.1 million, according to the EIA. That was the first increase in six weeks.