The price of oil rose slightly on Thursday but still hovered around seven month lows, as an ongoing supply glut continues to weigh on the market.
Brent Crude slipped below $45 a barrel around midday, before recovering to trade up 1.18 percent at $45.35.WTI Crude is currently up 0.8 percent $42.87.
“Prices were pushed a bit too low,” Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist with ABN AMRO, told Reuters. “The people who believe in higher prices are stepping in.”
Oil prices have continued to hover below the $50 a barrel mark, despite the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision to extend their output cuts for a further nine months.
The group’s efforts to cut supply are being undermined by increasing output from several countries, including Libya, Nigeria and the US.
