Oil rises to $51 after steep slide; growth fears weigh::(WWW.SHREEMCX.COM)

Oil edged up to $51 a barrel on Wednesday after reaching its lowest since June 2017 on perceptions that a price slide prompted by worries over the global economy had been overdone amid an OPEC-led effort to tighten supply.

Crude has been caught up in wider financial market weakness as the U.S. government shutdown, higher U.S. interest rates and the U.S.-China trade dispute unnerved investors and exacerbated worries over global growth. [MKTS/GLOB]

Brent crude (LCOc1), the global benchmark, was up 43 cents at $50.90 at 0949 GMT. It earlier fell to $49.93, the lowest since July 2017, and posted a 6.2 percent slide in the previous session.

U.S. crude (CLc1) was up 74 cents at $43.27.

“I think there is a little bit of over-extension to the downside linked to global market fears,” said Olivier Jakob, analyst at Petromatrix. “It’s all about equities.”

“OPEC has shown it wants a higher prices and is working towards that goal.”