Crude futures edge up, but U.S. inventory build drags

By Aaron Sheldrick

TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil futures inched up on Thursday after losses the previous session on official figures showing a sixth consecutive week of inventory gains in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Oil prices slumped as much as nearly 4 percent on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude inventories added 2.85 million barrels last week, in line with forecasts, despite a drop in imports to the lowest level since 1991.

U.S. crude was up 2 cents at $46.34 a barrel by 0745 GMT. It fell $1.58, or 3.3 percent, to $46.32 on Wednesday.

Brent crude rose 9 cents to $48.67 a barrel, after dropping 3.9 percent the day before.

"The U.S. data was a negative and there is not much chance of further improvement at this stage in the demand/supply balance, with inventories heading up and production basically steady," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.

Contributing to the general bearish sentiment was an internal OPEC document published by Reuters that showed weaker demand in the next few years for oil from the producer group.

OPEC oil ministers are due to meet on Dec. 4 to decide whether to extend the strategy of allowing prices to fall to slow higher-cost rival supply.

Since November 2014, when the group adopted that policy, OPEC production has risen but prices have deepened their collapse, hurting oil revenue, with Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer, pumping near record levels to protect market share.

OPEC, along with Russia, is unlikely to change the strategy, BMI Research said in a note on Thursday.

"Our view remains that OPEC and Russia will continue on their strategy of producing as much oil as possible to squeeze out higher cost producers," BMI said.

"With oil production of major producers strong, falling output from U.S. shale will be insufficient to balance the oversupplied oil market over the next two years," it said.

(Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Joseph Radford and Michael Perry)