Environment & Energy | Saturday 21 November, 2015 5:31 am |

Brent crude oil futures gained some ground on Friday but remained near three-month lows as the pressure of a persistent supply glut limited optimism for a price recovery.

Brent crude struggled to hold onto small gains as the overhang that has cut prices by more than 10 percent this month continued to weigh on the market.
"The drivers that pushed prices lower are still there," said Hamza Khan, head of commodity strategy at ING, pointing to the strong dollar and increasingly efficient US shale operations in addition to the overhang of physical oil. "Any rally today is going to have a difficult time finding traction."
The front-month Brent crude contract was 20 cents higher at $44.38 a barrel at 1450 GMT. The contract finished 4 cents higher on Thursday at $44.18.
US WTI crude traded 30 cents lower at $40.24 per barrel. Earlier in the day, it dipped to $39.88, a low since Aug. 27.
The strength of the US dollar, near seven-month highs, has a negative impact on crude prices, making oil and other commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

The dollar, along with market fundamentals, have hammered commodities from coal to copper over the past year. Crude futures are already down around 60 percent since mid-2014 as supply has exceeded demand by 700,000 to 2.5 million barrels per day, creating a glut that analysts say will last well into 2016.
The overhang has seen Iraqi crude grades selling as low as $30 per barrel, while official selling prices from Nigeria have fallen to their lowest in more than a decade.

US crude futures have been particularly battered as data from the Energy Information Administration showed an eighth straight week of stock builds.
A growing discount between the front month and forward contracts, which traded near a record wide $8 per barrel, has sparked talk of traders storing more crude in the hope of delivering later at higher prices.
Market data suggests oil traders are preparing for another downturn in prices by March 2016, as forecasts for an unusually warm winter dent dema