Oil traded near its lowest price this year amid rising US fuel inventories and speculation that OPEC, which pumps 40 percent of the world's crude, won't effectively reduce supplies to prop up prices.
"From OPEC's point of view it would be desirable to cut production by 1 million barrels a day," said Klaus Breil, a fund manager at Cominvest Asset Management in Frankfurt.
"At the moment it looks like only 700,000 barrels can be reached," Breil said.
Crude oil for November delivery fell US$0.11 to US$57.48 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:04am in London. Brent crude oil fell US$0.21 to US$58.44 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Oil has fallen about 27 percent from a record US$78.40 a barrel on July 14. The plunge prompted OPEC to consider reducing production. Several OPEC members have announced voluntary cuts, but conflicting statements have caused skepticism over whether the reductions will take hold.
Analysts were split on whether US stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, rose or fell last week. Supplies probably declined 125,000 barrels from 151.5 million the prior week, according to analysts.
Oil rose earlier on higher demand from China, which raised purchases of crude 24 percent last month from a year earlier on demand from farmers. China's imports climbed to 12.2 million tonnes or about 3.29 million barrels a day, the Beijing-based Customs General Administration of China said yesterday.
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