(Corrects 4th paragraph to Cushing drawdown was biggest since
February 2014, not in seven months)
* Price dip follows big jump on U.S. stock draw
* Some analysts say oil markets may have bottomed out
* Fed rate decision in focus
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Thursday
after Asia's economies showed new signs of weakness, but prices
largely held on to a big jump in the previous session after a
U.S. stock draw, with some analysts saying oil markets may have
bottomed out.
Japan's exports slowed for a second straight month in August
in an increasingly worrying sign that China's economic slowdown
is hurting the entire region.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were
trading at $47.04 per barrel at 0259 GMT, down 11 cents from
their previous close, while Brent prices LCOc1 was virtually
unchanged at $49.76 per barrel.
But the price dip came after markets jumped as much as 6
percent on Wednesday, when data from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration showed the largest crude drawdown since February
2014 at the key delivery point in Cushing, Oklahoma.
Some analysts said this week that oil markets may have
bottomed out following over a year of tumbling prices as
producers start cutting back output.
"Non-OPEC, non-U.S. oil supply (e.g. Yemen, Mexico,
Malaysia, Colombia and China) has peaked and is starting to
decline as double-digit capex cuts start to impact production,"
Bernstein Research said on Thursday.
The cuts would result in a combined reduction of 400 million
barrels per day by the end of the year, but it added that
"markets could remain oversupplied through 2016" despite the
scale-back.
U.S. crude prices have risen more in recent weeks than
globally traded Brent futures, owing largely to Asia's weakening
economies as well as rising output from West Africa and the
North Sea. This has narrowed the WTI discount on Brent by almost
70 percent since mid-August to around $2.20 per barrel.
"Brent appears to be suffering from higher Atlantic Basin
supplies (West Africa and North Sea) as well as the wider macro
picture, with concern over China and consequent trouble in
emerging markets, while European growth remains anaemic," said
JBC Energy.
Meanwhile, traders kept a close eye on whether the Federal
Reserve would later in the day raise interest rates for the
first time in almost a decade.
Higher U.S. interest rates would likely attract cash from
money traders, lifting the dollar. That could be bearish for
dollar-denominated oil as it would make fuel more expensive for
importers who hold other currencies.
(Editing by Joseph Radford and Richard Pullin)