Oil traded near $45 a barrel as investors weighed data that showed U.S. crude stockpiles expanded more than twice as much as forecast.
December futures rose 0.5 percent in New York after falling 2.4 percent Wednesday. Inventories climbed by 8.03 million barrels last week, the biggest gain since April, according to U.S. government data. A Bloomberg survey forecast a gain of 3.75 million.
Venezuela proposed a summit between OPEC heads of state and other producing nations in November to discuss the price needed to sustain future supplies, according to its oil minister Eulogio del Pino.
Oil failed to sustain a gain above $50 a barrel earlier this month amid signs the market surplus will persist. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries continues to pump above its quota.
US inventories remain more than 100 million barrels higher than the five-year seasonal average as the country’s refinery utilization rate hovers near the least since January.
“Processing rates at U.S. refineries are near the lowest this year, driving stockpiles to gain quite significantly last week,” Hong Sung Ki, a commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Inc., said by phone. “Seasonally speaking though, it is common to see inventories peak in end-October as it’s the off-season for oil market.”
West Texas Intermediate for December delivery was at $45.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 24 cents, at 4:31 p.m. Sydney time. The contract lost $1.09 to $45.20 on Wednesday, the lowest close for front-month futures since Oct. 1. The volume of all futures traded was about 45 percent below the 100-day average.
Brent for December settlement added 27 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $48.12 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark traded at a premium of $2.69 to WTI.
US crude stockpiles rose for a fourth week through Oct. 16, the longest run of gains since April, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Production remains unchanged at 9.1 million barrels a day.
Refinery utilization rose 0.4 percentage points to 86.4 percent, after operating at the lowest level since January in the week ended Oct. 9, according to the EIA.
Venezuela, whose economy is reeling after oil slumped more than 40 percent over the past year, has long urged fellow OPEC members to curb production and boost prices. An “equilibrium” of about $88 a barrel is necessary to ensure that enough new supplies are developed to offset an annual decline in global output of about 10 percent, Venezuela’s del Pino said.
Officials from OPEC and producers from outside the group gathered in Vienna Wednesday for technical talks. Restrictions on output or setting a target range for prices was not discussed, said Ilya Galkin, Russian Energy Ministry’s head of international relations, who attended the meeting.
