Oil

Oil rallied as much as 3% on Wednesday with Brent prices helped by news of stalled loadings for the U.K.'s North Sea oil while U.S. crude futures rose after strong demand for gasoline offset worries about record high crude inventories.

Chesapeake Energy posted red ink in the fourth quarter and announced plans to cut spending in half amid the ongoing oil swoon.

U.S. crude fell more than 3% to below $31 per barrel after Saudi Arabia ruled out production cuts and an industry report said U.S. crude stockpiles hit a record, underlining the supply glut.

Oil prices fell 4% on Tuesday after Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi ruled out any production cuts, restating the kingdom's rationale for maintaining output was that demand would pick up excess crude that has crushed prices over the past 20 months.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi urged global energy executives to 'stick together' through the worst industry slump in decades, saying he was confident that growing support for a deal to freeze output would ease a global glut.

Oil futures eased on Tuesday, eroding some of the previous day's gains, over doubts a potential production freeze will have any impact on a supply glut.

Oil prices rose as much as 7% on Monday after the world's oil consumer body said it expected U.S. shale production to fall this year and next.

Oil prices were down 4% on Friday, with Brent on track to a third straight week of losses as record high U.S. crude stockpiles intensified worries that a plan to freeze world output will do little or nothing to reduce massive supplies already in the market.

U.S. crude was up nearly 3%, just shy of $30 per barrel as efforts led by Russia and Saudi Arabia to broker a deal to freeze production levels and ease a global glut turned to Iran, which signaled a tough line.

Iran said on Wednesday it would resist any plan to restrain its oil output as fellow OPEC ministers tried to persuade the country to join the first global oil pact in 15 years.

Brent oil fell almost 4% on Tuesday, erasing early gains after top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia dashed expectations of an outright supply cut by agreeing only to freeze output if other big exporters joined them.

Top oil exporters Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed on Tuesday to freeze output levels but said the deal was contingent on other producers joining in.

U.S. crude jumped 5% to $30.91 per barrel, as a meeting of oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela spurred hopes of action by the producers to tackle a devastating global supply glut that has hammered oil prices.

Oil prices were steady on Monday, holding on to last week's gains on speculation that OPEC might agree to cut production to reduce a supply glut that has pushed prices to the lowest in over a decade.