Oil slips

hot now

London

Oil fell below $49 a barrel on Tuesday, giving up part of August's strong rally, as signs of rising supply outweighed hopes that producing nations will agree steps to support prices.

A Nigerian militant group, which has claimed a wave of attacks on oil facilities, said at the weekend it was ready for a ceasefire and Iraq resumed pumping through a northern pipeline halted earlier this year.

Brent crude was down 59 cents at $48.57 a barrel at 0845 GMT.

The global benchmark rallied 20 percent between the beginning of the month and Aug. 19. U.S. crude was down 62 cents at $46.79."Today we remain bearish on crude oil," said Georgi Slavov, analyst at Marex Spectron. "Supply looks likely to increase in the short term."  Goldman Sachs, in a report, said talk of an output freeze by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a weak dollar had helped drive prices up this month but neither was enough to sustain current levels.