Investing.com - Oil prices ticked higher during European morning hours on Thursday, after touching their lowest level since the end of November as the market weighed record-high stockpiles in the U.S. against efforts by major producers to cut output to reduce a global glut.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude May contract tacked on 30 cents, or around 0.6%, to $48.34 a barrel by 5:35AM ET (09:35GMT).
The U.S. benchmark settled lower for the third session in a row on Wednesday after touching its weakest level since November 30 at $47.01 after government data showed U.S. crude supplies rose more than expected last week.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for May delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London added 30 cents to $50.94 a barrel. The global benchmark sank to $49.71 in the prior session, its cheapest since November 30.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by 5.0 million barrels last week to an all-time high of 533.1 million.
Oil has fallen sharply this month amid concern that the ongoing rebound in U.S. shale production could derail efforts by other major producers to rebalance global oil supply and demand.
OPEC agreed in November last year to curb its output by about 1.2 million barrels per day between January and June. Russia and 10 other non-OPEC producers have agreed to jointly cut by an additional 600,000 barrels per day.
In total, they agreed to reduce output by 1.8 million barrels per day to 32.5 million for the first six months of the year, but so far the move has had little impact on inventory levels.
OPEC's latest monthly report showed global oil stocks in January rose to 278 million barrels above the five-year average.
OPEC members increasingly favor extending the output curb beyond June to balance the market, sources within the group said, although they added that this would require non-OPEC members such as Russia to also step up their efforts.
Kuwait is scheduled to host a ministerial meeting on March 26 comprising both OPEC and non-OPEC members to review compliance with the output agreement and to discuss whether cuts would be extended beyond June.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for April inched up 0.2 cents, or 0.2%, to $1.603 a gallon, while April heating oil rose 0.3 cents to $1.499 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for April delivery advanced 2.1 cents to $3.032 per million British thermal units, as traders looked ahead to weekly storage data due at 10:30AM ET, which is expected to show a draw of 150 billion cubic feet in the week ended March 17.