REUTERS
Oil prices rose on Tuesday after the head of OPEC forecast a more balanced market next year and the U.S. energy department said domestic output is likely to fall further, though gains were limited as the overall picture of a market in glut remains, according to Reuters.
U.S. crude rose 23 cents to $44.10 a barrel by 06:39 GMT, after falling about 1% on Monday to $44.15 for a fourth consecutive decline, Reuters reports.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 9 cents at $47.28 a barrel. The contract slipped 0.5% on Monday to $47.19 a barrel, also falling for four trading days in a row, Reuters reports.
Further evidence of stockpiling, expectations of a hike in U.S. rates and anemic economic growth figures have helped push down prices in the last week.
Read alsoCNN: Saudi Arabia to run out of cash in less than 5 yearsOil is unlikely to return to $80 a barrel before the end of the decade, despite unprecedented declines in investment, as annual demand growth struggles to top 1 million barrels per day, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.
Still, the comments from OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri on Monday did provide a little bullish relief to the market.
"The expectation is that the market will return to more balance in 2016," al-Badri said in a speech in the Qatari capital Doha.
Read alsoReuters Exclusive: OPEC confidential report sees market share squeeze to 2019"We see global oil demand maintaining its recent healthy growth. We see less non-OPEC supply. And we see an increase in the demand for OPEC crude," Badri said.
Most of the oil supply increases in recent years have come from high-cost production, Badri said, in a reference to supply sources such as U.S. shale oil.
Shale production is expected to fall for an eighth consecutive month in December, according to a forecast on Monday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Total output is set to decline by 118,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, the biggest monthly decline on record, to 4.95 million bpd, the least since September 2014, according to EIA data going back to 2007.