Oil extended losses after a government report showed that US crude inventories increased a second week.
Crude supplies rose 10.1 million barrels to 397.9 million in the week ended January 16, according to the Energy Information Administration.
A 2.7 million-barrel stockpile gain was projected in a survey of 10 analysts.
Futures slipped earlier after the European Central Bank announced an expanded asset-purchase program, strengthening the US dollar.
West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slipped $1.34, or 2.8%, to $46.44 a barrel at 11:01 am on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent for March settlement fell 84 cents to $48.19 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Gasoline supplies rose 588,000 barrels to 240.9 million. Inventories of distillate fuel declined 3.27 million to 136.6 million.
US crude production decreased 6,000 barrels a day to 9.19 million last week, said the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm.
Refineries operated at 85.5% of their capacity, down from 91% the previous week.
ECB President Mario Draghi announced plans to buy 60 billion euros ($69 billion) a month of public and private debt until September 2016.
The 19-nation shared currency slipped to an 11-year low against the dollar.
The ECB president side-stepped German-led opposition to quantitative easing in a push to revive inflation and the euro-area economy.
The risk of deflation and stagnation forced Draghi’s hand six years after the Federal Reserve took a similar step to inject cash into the US.
The shift exacerbates a divergence in global monetary policy.
While the Fed is now considering when to tighten credit, central banks in Denmark, Turkey, India, Canada and Peru all announced surprise rate cuts in the past week. The Swiss National Bank shocked investors by dropping a cap on the franc.
Producers outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should be first to reduce their output amid a surplus that’s pushed crude below $50 a barrel, Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said in an interview.
A price recovery is likely in the second half, International Energy Agency Chief Economist Fatih Birol said at a conference in Davos on Wednesday.
“In the second half of this year we will see an upward pressure on prices starting, and therefore I believe this $45 oil price now is a temporary phenomenon,” Birol said.
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