NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures traded near $55 a barrel early Tuesday, as concerns about weakening energy demand amid a global economic slowdown continued to dominate investor sentiment.
Crude oil for December delivery was recently up 22 cents to $55.16 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.
Earlier, the contract fell to an intraday low of $54.13 a barrel.
"While we wait for OPEC to cut output, market participants are also looking out for signs of supply cuts elsewhere," said analysts at Sucden Research.
Russia's energy minister, Sergei Shmatko, said on Tuesday that the world is heading toward a sharp deficit of oil-production capacity and Russian companies could reduce output and exports if they become unprofitable, Reuters reported.
Shmatko also said that the price of oil should be more than $60 a barrel.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold an emergency meeting in late November. OPEC President Chakib Khelil said Sunday that the group may have to wait until December to take action to reach an oil price of $70 to $90 a barrel, since the impact of its latest supply cuts was not clear yet, according to a Reuters report.
On Monday, crude fell by $2.09, or 3.7%, to close at $54.95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It finished at the session's weakest intraday level -- a level not seen since late January 2007.
On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures dropped sharply Tuesday as investors continued to adjust to the swift deterioration in the economy and in particular the troubled times in the financial sector. See Indications.
Also on Globex Tuesday, December reformulated gasoline was flat at $1.77 a gallon and December heating oil was flat at $1.79 a gallon.
December natural gas futures gained 1 cent to $6.54 per million British thermal units.
