Oil prices weakened slightly Thursday, a day after Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil producer, said it favored a "suitable increase" in OPEC oil production to stabilize the market.
However, analysts said they did not expect the price falls to be steep and they stressed that the Saudi Arabian pledge was vague.
They also cited the latest figures on US stocks from the Department of Energy that showed a smaller increase in stock levels than data released on Tuesday.
By midday Thursday, Benchmark Brent crude for October delivery was trading in London at 31.83 dollars a barrel, 15 cents lower.
In New York, light sweet crude for October delivery ended Wednesday's session at 33.32 dollars a barrel, 58 cents higher.
Prices initially dipped on Wednesday following stocks data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that showed crude oil stocks rose by 5.261 million barrels in the week to August 25th to 286.0 million barrels.
Crude stocks were 31.70 million barrels lower than the previous year, the API said Tuesday.
But data released by the US Department of Energy after Wednesday's market close showed a more modest increase of two million barrels to 286.7 million in the week ending August 25th from the previous week.
Year-on-year, crude stocks fell by 32.2 million barrels, the department said.
Meanwhile, an official statement from Saudi Arabia announced that Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi had been instructed to hold talks with fellow members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to seek "a suitable increase (in OPEC output) to guarantee once again the balance on the market and stability of prices." - LONDON (AFP)
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