London — Oil prices fell on Thursday, weighed down by oversupply, but losses were limited by expectations that major exporters would agree to extend production cuts to try to rebalance the market.Benchmark Brent crude was down 60c at $51.22 a barrel by 9.15am GMT, almost 10% below this month’s peak.US light crude was down 55 cents at $49.07.Traders reported ample supplies in all key markets despite efforts led by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia to cut output by 1.8-million barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of the year to tighten the market and prop up prices.Opec is discussing extending its cuts into the second half of the year, but the group has an uphill task as oil inventories are near record levels in many parts of the world."It is clear that the world has plenty of oil in stock, making Opec’s life that much harder," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore.US data on Wednesday showed a drop ...
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