MELBOURNE/SEOUL (Oct 22): Oil traded near the lowest level in almost three weeks as investors weighed data that showed U.S. crude stockpiles expanded more than twice as much as forecast.

December futures were little changed in New York after falling 2.4 percent Wednesday. Inventories climbed by 8.03 million barrels last week, the biggest gain since April, an Energy Information Administration report showed. A Bloomberg survey forecast a gain of 3.75 million.

Venezuela proposed a summit between OPEC heads of state and other producing nations in November to discuss the price needed to sustain future supplies, according to its oil minister Eulogio del Pino.

Oil failed to sustain a gain above $50 a barrel earlier this month amid signs the market surplus will persist. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries continues to pump above its quota. U.S. inventories remain more than 100 million barrels higher than the five-year seasonal average as the country’s refinery utilization rate hovers near the least since January.

“Processing rates at U.S. refineries are near the lowest this year, driving stockpiles to gain quite significantly last week,” Hong Sung Ki, a commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Inc., said by phone. “Seasonally speaking though, it is common to see inventories peak in end-October as it’s the off-season for oil market.”

West Texas Intermediate for December delivery was at $45.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 16 cents, at 12:46 p.m. Sydney time. The contract lost $1.09 to $45.20 on Wednesday, the lowest close for front-month futures since Oct. 1. The volume of all futures traded was about 65 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for December settlement added 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $48.01 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark traded at a premium of $2.66 to WTI.