West Texas Intermediate futures for February delivery rebounded to $30.85 (+1.21%), while Brent crude is currently at $30.32 (+0.03%). Nevertheless prices are expected to stay low for quite a while. On Wednesday the Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 200,000 barrels in the week ending January 8. This suggests that consumption in the world's biggest oil consumer is unable to absorb growing supplies.

The EIA cut its global oil demand forecast to 95.19 million barrels a day this year and raised its forecast for global output.