NEW YORK, Sept 14 — Oil’s decline below US$45 (RM193.774) a barrel faltered as US drillers idled rigs for a second week amid a global glut.

Futures increased as much as 0.8 per cent in New York, paring Friday’s 2.8 per cent drop.

The number of rigs seeking oil slid to the lowest level in almost two months, according to Baker Hughes Inc China’s crude processing rose last month as gasoline demand encouraged higher refinery output, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday.

Oil slumped last week as Goldman Sachs Group Inc said the surplus is bigger than it thought and prices could fall as low as US$20 a barrel.

Leading members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are sustaining output while US crude stockpiles remain about 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average.

West Texas Intermediate for October delivery rose as much as 34 cents to US$44.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at US$44.85 at 9:05 a.m. Sydney time.

The contract slid 3.1 per cent last week. The volume of all futures traded was about 60 per cent below the 100-day average. Prices have decreased 16 per cent this year.

Brent for October settlement, which expires Tuesday, was 7 cents higher at US$48.21 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It lost 75 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to US$48.14 on Friday.

The more-active November future rose 9 cents to US$49.13. — Bloomberg