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By Bloomberg

Oil traded near $59 a barrel after two days of losses before U.S. government data forecast to show stockpiles expanded further from a record.

Futures were little changed in New York after falling 0.4 percent on Monday. Crude inventories probably increased by 1.2 million barrels through May 1, a 17th weekly gain, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report Wednesday. EOG Resources Inc., the biggest shale-oil producer, reported a first-quarter loss after taking steps to halt output growth following a slump in prices.

Oil’s rebound from a six-year low in March has faltered amid speculation that a global supply glut that drove prices into a bear market last year will persist. Stockpiles are rising in the U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer, even as drillers reduced the number of active rigs to the lowest level since September 2010.

“The shale business in the U.S. is showing signs of slowing but output is still stubbornly high,” David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone. “We need to see real production cuts for prices to move higher.”

West Texas Intermediate for June delivery was at $58.82 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 11 cents, at 1:27 p.m. Singapore time. The contract dropped 22 cents to $58.93 on Monday. The volume of all futures traded was 75 percent below the 100-day average. Prices have advanced about 10 percent this year.

Crude Stockpiles

Brent for June settlement was 12 cents lower at $66.33 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It decreased 1 cent to $66.45 on Monday. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $7.48 to WTI.

EOG was among the fastest to respond to the collapse in oil prices, as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Thomas in February announced plans to keep production flat this year and reduce spending by 40 percent. The Houston-based company reported a quarterly net loss of $169.7 million, or 31 cents a share, compared with profit of $661 million, or $1.21, a year earlier.

U.S. crude inventories surged to 490.9 million barrels in the week ended April 24, EIA data showed. That’s the highest level since 1930, based on monthly records from the Energy Department’s statistical arm dating back to 1920.

Speculation played a role in oil’s decline last year, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The group’s interest is different from that of traders as hedge funds and speculators need prices to fluctuate to make profits, it said in a monthly bulletin on Monday.

OPEC, whose 12 members pump about 40 percent of the world’s oil, decided in November to maintain its output target at 30 million barrels a day. A rise in supply from producers elsewhere at a time of weak demand was the main reason for the market’s slide, the group said. Ministers are scheduled to meet June 5 in Vienna.