U.S. crude prices jump 4 percent from 12-year lows, but outlook still bleak

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices bounced away from 12-year lows early on Friday after comments by an OPEC energy minister sparked hopes of a coordinated production cut, yet analysts said such a move remained unlikely and that oversupply would persist.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $27.35 per barrel at 0014 GMT, up $1.14 or 4.35 percent from their previous settlement.

Prices plumbed a new 2003 low in the previous session as domestic stockpiles grew and investors fled from equities and other risky assets into safe havens such as gold.

Friday's jump came after a Middle East energy minister of an OPEC country said the producer club was willing to talk with other exporters about cutting output.

The energy minister of the United Arab Emirates repeated recent calls from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that its members were ready to cooperate with other producers on a cut, although he added that cheap oil was already forcing some output reductions which would help rebalance the market itself.

Analysts said they saw little chance of OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreeing on a common policy and that low prices as a result of oversupply would likely persist.

"Comments from the UAE energy minister that OPEC was willing to cooperate on production cuts had little impact. We view this as further jawboning, with the likelihood of a coordinated response on supply cuts very low," ANZ bank said on Friday.

Oil prices have tumbled over 70 percent since mid-2014 as producers pump 1-2 million barrels of crude every day in excess of demand just as global economic growth stalls, led by China's slowdown.

(Editing by Richard Pullin)