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(Bloomberg) — Oil held gains after rising for a third day on signs the pace of drilling is slowing in the U.S. amid a global oversupply.

Futures were little changed in New York after advancing 0.4 percent Wednesday. The number of rigs targeting oil fell by 9 to 555, the lowest level since June 2010, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website. Crude stockpiles in the world’s biggest oil consumer increased for a ninth week, keeping supplies more than 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Oil has slumped more than 40 percent the past year amid speculation the surplus will be prolonged with U.S. inventories near a record and OPEC pumping above its quota to defend market share. Iran will pitch more than 50 oil and natural gas projects to foreign investors at a two-day conference in Tehran starting Saturday as the government prepares for the end of international sanctions.

“The short-term trend for prices has been up, but oil has started to lose momentum,” Ric Spooner, a chief analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “There is not a lot of change in the underlying crude stockpile data, the U.S. figures are consistent with what we’ve seen in recent weeks.”

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery was at $43.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 12 cents, at 10:12 a.m. Hong Kong time. The contract gained 17 cents to $43.04 on Wednesday. The volume of all futures traded was 37 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are down about 7 percent this month.
Brent for January settlement was 10 cents higher at $46.27 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract rose 5 cents to $46.17 on Wednesday. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $3.11 to WTI.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Hong Kong at bsharples@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net Yee Kai Pin, Ovais Subhani