09:05 AM EST, 11/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oil was little changed, settling into a narrow trading range early on Wednesday amid weak demand from China and the threat of higher supply.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for December delivery was last seen up US$0.26 to US$68.38, while January Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up US$0.24 to US$72.13.

OPEC on Tuesday cut its demand-growth forecast for a fourth-straight month on a weak outlook for China's economy, which is sagging under a debt crisis in its key real-estate sector, rising unemployment and weak consumer spending.

"Yesterday, the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report was very much awaited, but its delivery held few surprises. The cartel downgraded its oil demand growth for 2024 from 1.93mbpd to 1.82mbpd and in a similar quantity, its 2025 forecast from 1.64mbpd to 1.54mbpd. Much of the trimming is inspired by China. The report showed a reduction in growth from 580kbpd to 450kbpd and targeted a lack of Diesel use," PVM Oil Associates noted.

The OPEC report will be followed by fresh demand outlooks from the Energy Information Administration later on Wednesday, while the International Energy Agency will issue its November Oil Market Report on Thursday.

The threat of rising supply is checking the upside for the commodity, as OPEC+ plans to begin returning 2.2-million barrels per day of voluntary production cuts with monthly production hikes of 180,000-bpd beginning in January. The group has already delayed the plan twice due to weak markets and will meet on Dec.1 to assess whether it needs to postpone the supply hike once more.