AKIPRESS.COM - Oil traded near a five-year low as the United Arab Emirates said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will refrain from cutting output even if prices slumped to $40 a barrel, reports Bloomberg.

Brent futures fluctuated in London after falling 2.9 percent on Dec. 12 to cap a third weekly drop. The market will stabilize itself and OPEC will wait at least three months before considering an emergency meeting, U.A.E. Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said. The International Energy Agency lowered its 2015 demand forecast for the fourth time in five months amid rising supply from non-OPEC countries.

Oil has lost more than 20 percent since Saudi Arabia led OPEC’s decision to maintain its production target at a Nov. 27 meeting, resisting calls from members including Venezuela to reduce supply. Drillers in the U.S., pumping crude at the fastest pace in more than three decades, idled the most rigs in two years, according to Baker Hughes Inc.

“Some in the market may see an opportunity to buy so the market is stabilizing,” Victor Shum, a Singapore-based vice president at IHS Inc., an industry consultant, said by phone today. “Given the concerns over the oversupply situation, oil futures could go down further before an adjustment upwards would take place. We’re in for a long period of volatility.”

Brent for January settlement gained as much as $1.10 to $62.95 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $62.86 at 2:35 p.m. Sydney time. The contract, which expires tomorrow, slid $1.83 to $61.85 on Dec. 12, the lowest close since July 2009. The more active February future was 92 cents higher at $63.07. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $4.26 to WTI.