Oil opens slightly up but stays near August lows after Paris attacks

Brent North Sea crude for January delivery shed 94 cents to stand at 43.53 a barrel in late London deals. "Macro headwinds remain, crude oil inventories are building", Morgan Stanley said. This massive cushion has inflated even as the global oil market adjusts to $50/bbl oil.

Front-month US crude futures CLc1 broke back above $41 a barrel, trading at $41.08 a barrel at 0425 GMT, up 34 cents from their last close.

Please enter your email. World stockpiles have expanded to a record of nearly 3 Bbbl because of strong production in OPEC and elsewhere, the worldwide Energy Agency said Friday.

A new poll of analysts had predicted that crude stock has a buildup of 1.8 million barrels during the week ending November 13.

Prices are rising instead as investors are looking to oil, gold and treasuries, which are seen as safer investments than stocks, because of uncertainty around the economic consequences of the attacks. Other countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russian Federation, have kept pumping crude at a high pace, keeping the global market amply supplied. On the NY Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading up 1.79 per cent at $US41.38 for its December deliveries.

Although Wednesday's gains were positive, analysts expect prices to still remain low for the remainder of the year and into 2016.

The US more than doubled its imports of oil from Iraq between August and September, according to a Platt's analysis of U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics.

"The Paris tragedy may warrant a few uptick in geopolitical premia but this is likely trumped by near-term negative impacts on European oil demand", said Ed Morse, global commodities strategist at Citi in NY.

Gold prices had sunk 0.5 percent last week - amid speculation of a rate hike in the US that would have boosted the dollar - dropping to $1,074.25 Thursday, the lowest since February 2010.

Generally, though, he added, oil markets seem more concerned with bearish fundamentals.

Oil is witnessing its worst patch since the financial crisis; the price has dropped by almost 60% since June 2014 as high inventories and production have collided with the downturn in Asia, particularly in Japan and China.

Despite the glut in oil, it noted that supply shows no sign of ebbing with major Middle Eastern producers pumping at record levels and US stockpiles increasing.