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By Bloomberg

Oil rose, stemming its decline to a six-year low while swelling U.S. crude stockpiles kept the market under pressure amid a global selloff.

Futures gained as much as 1.9 percent in New York, paring losses after a 5.5 percent drop on Monday. Inventories probably expanded by 2 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 21, a Bloomberg survey showed before an Energy Information Administration report on Wednesday. A measure of oil-price fluctuations climbed Monday to the highest level since April amid the rout in commodities.

Oil has slumped more than 35 percent since this year’s closing peak in June on signs a global oversupply will persist. Leading members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are sustaining production while U.S. stockpiles remain almost 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average. The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 raw materials sank Monday to the lowest since 1999 on concern China’s demand will slow.

“That structural glut in the oil market is going to remain,” Jonathan Barratt, the chief investment officer at Ayers Alliance Securities in Sydney, said in a Bloomberg television interview. “As a result of that I think you might see it head even lower, and probably head down to those December 2008 lows.”

West Texas Intermediate for October delivery rose as much as 72 cents to $38.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $38.89 at 1:42 p.m. Sydney time. The contract fell $2.21 to $38.24 on Monday, the lowest close since February 2009. Total volume was about 11 percent above the 100- day average. Prices decreased to $32.40 in intraday trading in December 2008.

Commodity Rout

Brent for October settlement gained as much as 68 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $43.37 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It slid $2.77 to $42.69 on Monday, the lowest close since March 2009. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $4.45 to WTI.

Crude stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, probably increased to 458.2 million barrels last week, according to the median estimate in the Bloomberg survey of eight analysts. The nation’s summer driving season, when fuel consumption typically peaks, will end with Labor Day on Sept. 7.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index of raw materials including crude and metals declined 2.2 percent Monday to close at the lowest level since August 1999. It was 0.6 percent higher Tuesday. Shares in oil producers including China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and Cnooc Ltd. dropped.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Crude Oil Volatility Index closed at 50.11 Monday, signaling the largest price fluctuations since April 1. The gauge of hedging costs on the U.S. Oil Fund, the biggest exchange-traded fund tracking WTI, advanced 9.1 percent last week.