“The market is an investor desert,” said Scott Shelton, an energy specialist at ICAP. “The fundamental information that generates predictable price action doesn’t exist.”

Adding to the bearish sentiment, vacancies at US employers fell to an almost two-year low in March, a fresh sign of a softening labor market. Activity in China’s export-tilted manufacturing sector missed estimates in April, a possible sign of a recession among customers in the US and Europe. And Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji said the country has increased output to more than 3 million barrels a day, providing additional supplies to the market.

“It’s going to take some evidence in the physical market on the tightening we see in our balances before we see any more positive or committed trading activity,” Emily Ashford, an energy analyst at Standard Chartered Bank, said by phone. 

Eoin Treacy's view

OPEC+ have been proactive in attempting to curtail supply to meet declining demand. There are big outstanding questions about how sustainable that policy is against a background of competing priorities inside the cartel and economic weakness among the biggest customers. Keeping supply and demand in balance is only going to become more difficult.