Petroleum prices rebounded on Wednesday to claw back some of the previous day's 6% plunge.
But Wednesday's bounce did little to reverse overall market weakness. Crude plummeted in the previous session and world equities tumbled as investors grew more worried about economic growth prospects.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 60 cents, or 1% to $63.13 U.S. per barrel late Wednesday morning, having fallen to a low going back to December 2017 in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 90 cents, or 1.7 %, to $54.33 U.S. WTI hit its lowest price level since October 2017 on Tuesday.
Brent has fallen by more than 25% since reaching a four-year high of $86.74 on Oct. 3, reflecting concern about forecasts of slowing demand in 2019 and record supply from Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States.
Prices slightly pared gains on Wednesday after government data showed a jump in U.S. crude stockpiles,
Commercial crude inventories south of the border rose by 4.9 million barrels in the week through Nov. 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. The American Petroleum Institute had said on Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels.
Worried by the prospect of a new supply glut, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is talking about a U-turn just months after increasing production.
OPEC, Russia and other non-OPEC producers are considering a supply cut of between one million barrels per day (bpd) and 1.4 million bpd at a Dec. 6 meeting.
