Oil traded near $50 a barrel in New York before data forecast to show a third weekly drop in U.S. crude inventories, while Saudi Arabia said it planned further curbs on exports.
Futures rose 0.4 percent after advancing 0.6 percent on Monday, rebounding from a weekly loss. Stockpiles probably slid by 750,000 barrels last week, a Bloomberg survey shows before an Energy Information Administration report on Thursday. Crude in floating storage is declining, demonstrating that the market is rebalancing, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said Monday.
Oil last week fell the most since May on speculation rising global output may offset supply curbs led by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The deal is set to expire at the end of March and the group is likely to discuss an extension at its next meeting on Nov. 30. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Saudi Aramco, plans to make deep cuts to supply next month to help trim the global glut.
“In their attempt to reassure the market of their determination to bring global stocks down, the company has decided to take the unusual step of going public with their November export plans,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. “The kingdom’s intention is clear. Concrete and practical steps are being taken.”
West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was at $49.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 21 cents, at 9:44 a.m. in London. Total volume traded was about 40 percent below the 100-day average. Prices climbed 29 cents to $49.58 on Monday after falling 4.6 percent last week.
Brent for December settlement added 29 cents to $56.08 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices rose 17 cents to $55.79 on Monday after falling 3.3 percent last week. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $5.95 to December WTI.
State-run Saudi Aramco will make an “unprecedented” cut of 560,000 barrels a day in its allocations to customers next month, the Saudi energy ministry said in a statement. Aramco plans to supply 7.15 million barrels a day “despite very strong demand” that exceeds 7.7 million barrels a day, it said.