Investing.com - Oil prices trimmed earlier losses during North American morning hours on Thursday, after falling to the lowest level since the end of November amid ongoing concerns over swelling stockpiles in the U.S.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude April contract touched a session low of $48.79 a barrel, a level not seen since November 30. It was last at $49.80 by 9:20AM ET (14:20GMT), down 46 cents, or around 0.9%.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for May delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London slumped 45 cents to $52.66 a barrel. The global benchmark fell to $51.60 earlier, its lowest since December 1.
Oil sank more than 5% in the prior session after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude supplies surged by 8.2 million barrels last week to yet another all-time high of 528.4 million.
It was the ninth straight weekly build in U.S. stockpiles, feeding concerns about a global glut.
Futures have been trading in a narrow $5 range around the low-to-mid-$50s over the past three months as sentiment in oil markets has been torn between rising stockpiles and increased shale production in the U.S. and hopes that oversupply may be curbed by output cuts announced by major global producers.
OPEC and non-OPEC countries made a strong start to lowering their oil output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of June.
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, the second such meeting since the deal was reached.
Oil ministers of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Kuwait, Oman, Algeria and Venezuela will attend the meeting, along with the OPEC secretary general.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for April shed 1.4 cents, or around 0.9%, to $1.633 a gallon, while April heating oil fell 1.4 cents to $1.542 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for April delivery jumped 4.6 cents to $2.945 per million British thermal units. Traders looked ahead to weekly storage data due later on Thursday, which is expected to show a draw of 61 billion cubic feet in the week ended March 3.