London — Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as rising US drilling activity undermined efforts by oil cartel Opec and other producers to cut output in a move to prop up the market. Brent crude oil was down 20c a barrel at $55.03 by 9am GMT. US light crude was down 30c a barrel at $52.33. Both benchmarks have traded within fairly narrow ranges over the past two months, since Opec agreed to cut output by almost 1.8-barrels a day in an attempt to clear a global glut. After an initial price rise on the hope that markets would rebalance quickly, Brent and US crude futures have both been held back by evidence of higher US oil drilling and forecasts of a rebound in shale production. Support from Opec cuts and pressure from shale are still dominating the global oil market, keeping Brent close to $55 a barrel and US crude not far from $52.50. "Opec adherence to production targets has been strong," said US investment bank Jefferies, but added that US drilling "activity levels are already picking up...
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