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By Bloomberg

Oil held gains after rebounding from a six- year low as U.S. government data showed crude stockpiles fell for a third week in the world’s biggest consumer.

Futures were little changed in New York after climbing 0.5 percent on Wednesday. Crude inventories slid by 1.68 million barrels last week to 453.6 million, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration. A measure of price fluctuations rose to the highest level in almost four months on Wednesday after China devalued its currency a second day.

Prices have swung between gains and losses this week on mixed demand signals from China, while remaining almost 30 percent below their June closing peak amid a global glut. The surplus will last through 2016 as the strongest consumption growth in five years and faltering supply fail to clear the oversupply, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The market will continue to be volatile until we get a clear direction and more data from China,” Jonathan Barratt, the chief investment officer at Ayers Alliance Securities in Sydney, said by phone. “There is still a glut and still a surplus of production.”

West Texas Intermediate for September delivery was at $43.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 10 cents, at 12:50 p.m. Singapore time. The contract gained 22 cents to $43.30 on Wednesday after closing at the lowest since March 2009 on Tuesday. The volume of all futures traded was 28 percent above the 100-day average. Prices have fallen 18 percent in 2015.

U.S. Supplies

Brent for September settlement, which expires Friday, rose 19 cents to $49.85 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It gained 48 cents to $49.66 on Wednesday. The more-active October contact climbed 17 cents to $50.35. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $6.44 to WTI.

U.S. crude stockpiles remain more than 90 million barrels above the five-year average for this time of the year, even after the decline through Aug. 7, according to EIA data. Output dropped by 70,000 barrels a day to 9.4 million a day.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Crude Oil Volatility Index closed at 42.40 Wednesday, the highest level since April 16. The gauge of hedging costs on the U.S. Oil Fund, the largest exchange-traded fund tracking WTI, rose 6.1 percent last week.

Global stockpiles won’t be diminished until the fourth quarter of next year, or even later if sanctions on Iranian crude are lifted, the IEA said in its monthly report Wednesday. Record inventories will expand further even as consumption growth doubles in 2015 and supplies outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries contract next year for the first time since 2008, the agency said.