Oil steadies near $57 per barrel before U.S. crude inventory data

Oil steadied in New York before weekly data on crude inventories in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer.

Futures were little changed after slipping 0.3 percent on Tuesday, the first decline in four sessions. Crude inventories fell by 1.56 million barrels last week, while motor-fuel stockpiles gained 520,000 barrels, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute was said to report.

A Bloomberg survey forecast a 2.45 million-barrel oil-supply drop ahead of government data Wednesday.

Oil has climbed about 20 percent since the start of September as speculation mounts that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will extend output cuts past March when it meets in Vienna on Nov. 30. Recent political upheaval in Saudi Arabia has added to price gains. U.S. shale production will grow faster than expected over the next four years after OPEC-led curbs triggered a price recovery, OPEC said in a report Tuesday.

“The U.S. shale machine is poised to shift up a gear as producers make hay amid the healthier price backdrop,” said Stephen Brennock, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd.

OPEC forecasts slow growth in demand for its oil, sees US shale dominating the market in coming years

West Texas Intermediate for December delivery slid 8 cents to $57.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:04 a.m. London time. Total volume traded was 12 percent below the 100-day average. Prices slipped from the highest level in more than two years to close at $57.20 on Tuesday.

Brent for January settlement rose 11 cents to $63.80 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, after falling 58 cents on Tuesday. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $6.47 to January WTI.

Crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the biggest U.S. oil-storage hub, expanded by 812,000 barrels last week, the API reported Tuesday, according to people familiar with the data. Unlike the API, Bloomberg’s survey forecast a decline in gasoline supplies of 1.85 million barrels.