Oil slips

Tokyo

Oil turned lower on Thursday after posting gains earlier in the session as traders look ready to test new lows for crude prices with worries persisting over a global glut.

Brent crude futures were down 15 cents at $44.67 a barrel at 0715 GMT, after spending much of the Asian trading day in positive territory. U.S. crude futures were down 14 cents $42.39 a barrel, after also spending much of the day trading higher.

On Wednesday, they settled down at $42.53, after touching their lowest intraday level since August 2016.Since peaking in late February, crude has dropped around 20 percent, with only brief rallies, completely erasing gains at the end of the year in the wake of the initial OPEC-led production cut.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers agreed to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day from January for six months, subsequently extended for a further nine months.