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By Bloomberg

Oil held near $48 a barrel before U.S. government data that will show whether a glut of crude is expanding in the world’s biggest consumer.

Futures were little changed in New York after advancing 0.1 percent Tuesday. Crude inventories probably climbed for an 11th week through March 20, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report on Wednesday. Industry data showed supplies rose by 4.8 million barrels, according to people familiar with the figures and reports on Twitter.

Oil is down 12 percent from this year’s peak in February as U.S. stockpiles and production advance to the highest level in more than three decades. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which resisted calls to reduce supply at a November meeting, will probably maintain its collective quota when it next meets in June, according to Facts Global Energy, a research company.

“The trend has not been great for U.S. supplies,” David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone. “If we want to see the price rally, someone needs to cut at least 1 million barrels a day out of the market straight away. It still looks rather gloomy at this stage.”

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was down 4 cents at $47.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:24 a.m. Singapore time. The contract gained 6 cents to $47.51 on Tuesday. The volume of all futures traded was about 71 percent below the 100-day average.

Crude Supplies

Brent for May settlement was 4 cents higher at $55.15 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It slid 81 cents to $55.11 a barrel on Tuesday. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $7.69 to WTI.

U.S. crude supplies probably expanded by 4.75 million barrels last week, according to the median estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Stockpiles have climbed the prior 10 weeks to 458.5 million, the highest level in weekly data compiled by the EIA since August 1982.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI contracts, increased by 2 million barrels last week, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute in Washington reported Tuesday. They climbed to a record 54.4 million through March 13, according to the EIA.

Oil prices will continue to fall in the second quarter as refineries shut for maintenance, according to Facts Global. Demand will slow and send Brent to as low as $35 a barrel, Fereidun Fesharaki, the chairman of Facts Global, told a conference on Tuesday in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.