Strong oil rally ‘pauses to draw breath’

Oil retreated from the highest level in almost five months amid rising US crude stockpiles and speculation producers will be unable to agree on an output freeze.

Futures dropped as much as 2.6% in New York as crude supplies rose to 538.6 million barrels last week, the most since 1930, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday.

Co-operation between producers is still possible, said Saudi oil ministry adviser Ibrahim Al-Muhanna.