Oil prices inch up, but stay within range

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude oil prices began rising after initial dips on Thursday, but remained within a narrow range that has been in place since late April as contradicting views of an oversupplied versus a tightening market push prices up and down.

Front-month Brent crude futures have seen numerous days of erratic price rises and falls as views of a tightening oil market and concerns of ongoing oversupply take turns in dominating daily sentiment, although the rises and falls have largely been in a $4 price range of $64-68 per barrel since April 23.

In early Thursday trading, supply concerns dominated, with Brent first dipping to a low of $64.83 (42 pounds) per barrel, but prices then rose to $65.20 by 0216 GMT (3:16 a.m.), a gain of 17 cents on its last settlement.

U.S. crude dropped to $58.69 a barrel before edging back to $59.08 per barrel.

The movements followed a bounce in prices on Wednesday as a stock draw in the United States and a tightening Asian market lifted the market, although prices saw steep falls on Tuesday after analysts lowered their price forecasts due to ongoing oversupply.

Analysts on Thursday said that while price volatility was likely to continue, general oversupply was likely to prevent big price gains.

"Increased focus on the supply side is likely to keep prices in check in the short term," said ANZ bank.

Part of the problem in gauging the extent of oversupply in global oil markets is that market watchers are struggling to reliably count barrels that are currently being traded and stocked, with some estimates showing over 100 million barrels that are unaccounted for in international statistics.

Despite this, the consensus seems to be that the global market has been oversupplied by between 1.5 million and 2.5 million barrels per day since the start of the year.