U.S. crude inventories haven’t been this high in 86 years — CHART

“We are open to other forms of cooperation if there is a wish shared by everyone to hold a meeting… between OPEC members and countries outside OPEC”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, answering a question about a Venezuelan proposal to hold such a meeting.

Del Pino is scheduled to meet Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on Sunday as part of a tour of oil producers to lobby for action to prop up prices. “Prices are going to zig-zag for a while”, said Tony Nunan, oil risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp in Tokyo.

The increase led to renewed fears of overflowing oil tanks at the key US storage hub, causing the spread between prompt and forward USA crude oil futures to slump to an 11-month low.

It had briefly fell as low as US$29.78 after the supply data, before recovering.

Analysts are predicting oil prices will climb more than $15 by the end of 2016, according to reports.

As oil is traded in dollars, a rise in the greenback makes crude more expensive for holders of weaker units, dampening demand.

North Sea brent crude followed a five-day winning streak from last week by tumbling by approximately $3 a barrel during the prior two sessions.

World oil prices fell sharply again on Tuesday in the wake of poorly-received economic data out of top energy consumer China. WTI was up 7.3 per cent to $32.06 at 2:15 p.m. NY time Wednesday. Oil prices have been falling as supply outweighs demand.

US gasoline inventories also rose to a record high, soaring 5.9 million barrels to 254.4 million barrels, mainly due to Midwest stocks for the motor fuel soaring to the highest level since 1995, EIA data showed. “Crude oil has started the new week on the back foot, giving back a big chunk of the sharp gains made in the previous couple of weeks”, said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index.

Iran, sitting on the fourth largest reserves in the world, now produces 2.8 million barrels per day and exports just over one million barrels.

It said the non-OPEC oil supply is estimated to have averaged 56.87mn barrels per day in 2015, an increase of 1.23mn barrels year-on-year, driven mainly by more growth from the US, Canada, Russia and Norway.

Export prices set by state oil giant Saudi Aramco could offer a glimpse into whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ kingpin will continue a strategy of keeping output high and defending market share even with global benchmark prices around $30 a barrel.

The low of $32.30 in Brent also marked the halfway point between the price lows in January and the highs seen earlier this week, and a point at which speculators swooped in to buy.