* Oil prices steady after six-week sell-off
* Lower September U.S. demand, Asia slowdown weigh on prices
* Most analysts expect oil prices to remain low
* EIA U.S. stocks data at 10:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT)
(Updates prices, detail)
By Lisa Barrington
LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Wednesday,
consolidating after a six-week rout driven by global oversupply
and concerns about falling demand in Asian economies and the
United States.
U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 , also known as West Texas
Intermediate (WTI), were down 20 cents at $42.42 a barrel by
1020 GMT. The front-month, September, U.S. contract expires on
Thursday. North Sea Brent crude LCOc1 held steady at $48.81 a
barrel.
"I think the market has pushed too low and too fast," ABN
Amro energy economist Hans van Cleef said. He added that,
although he could see oil prices rebounding in the coming weeks,
he thought they would remain low into next year.
Oil has lost about a third of its value since June and
prices have been hovering just above six-year lows for the past
week. The downward trend has been driven by global oversupply
and record stockpile levels, analysts say.
Many analysts said they expect some temporary price
stabilisation as people take profits from short positions. But
they said the downward price trend was likely to continue unless
there was a significant reduction in global supply.
"Any recovery in WTI prices from a six-year low may be
short-lived with the U.S. entering the slow demand period in
September," ANZ bank said.
The American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that
U.S. crude stocks had fallen by 2.3 million barrels in the week
ended Aug. 14. ID:nZXN04IZ00 U.S. government data on crude
stockpiles is due at 10:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.
However, U.S. oil production is at record levels and
producer costs appear to be declining, with no output scale-back
anticipated.
"The recent drop in the price of oil confirms ... the global
commitment producers have to their current levels of (high)
output," said Scott Cockerham, managing director Houston-based
Conway MacKenzie's Energy Advisory Services.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
is also producing record amounts of oil.
OPEC member Angola is set to export around 1.83 million
barrels per day (bpd) of crude in October, up from 1.77 million
in September.
This will add to the glut of light crude in the Atlantic
basin, putting further pressure on WTI as the refinery
maintenance season approaches, Natixis oil analyst Abhishek
Deshpande said. ID:nL5N10T267
U.S.-based PIRA Energy expects a price rebound driven by
strong demand for refined products and autumn refinery
maintenance, particularly in Asia.
But PIRA said in a note to clients that Asian refinery
margins would be slow to recover as the region remained
oversupplied with oil products due to rising supplies from
refineries in the Middle East. ID:nL5N10F2QL