Oil prices hovered near 4 1/2-year lows Thursday in Asia as persistent investor pessimism over global crude demand outweighed OPEC's largest-ever production cut, Associated Press reported. Light, sweet crude for January delivery edged up 26 cents to $40.32 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore. Earlier, it fell as low as $39.19 _ a level not seen since at least July 2004. The 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which accounts for about 40 of global oil supply, said Wednesday it planned to reduce its output quotas by 2.2 million barrels a day. Overnight, the contract fell $3.54 to settle at $40.06 a barrel, after touching $39.88. Oil prices have tumbled 73 percent since July. U.S. crude inventories rose slightly last week and gasoline reserves increased as demand stayed below year-ago levels, according to government data released Wednesday. In other Nymex trading, gasoline futures were up 1.25 cents to $1.0180 a gallon. Heating oil was up 2.7 cents at $1.4695 a gallon while natural gas for January delivery fell 1 cent to $5.609 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, February Brent crude rose 47 cents to $46.00 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
