US crude touches fresh 12-year low near $30

International benchmark Brent crude recovered to USD 30.80 per barrel, down 75 cents, after falling to a low of USD 30.43, a level last seen in April 2004.

Analysts said the bounce was likely to be short lived as investors booked profits.

"Oil prices have bounced just over USD 30 per barrel, in a weak fashion that brings dead cats to mind," Seth Kleinman, head of energy research at Citigroup said.

Trading data showed that managed short positions in WTI crude contracts, which would profit from a further fall in prices, are at a record high, indicating that many traders expect further falls.

China's slowing economy has also weighed on oil, which has shed more than 70 percent of its value since mid-2004.

And while demand looks fragile, supply from key producers remains robust.

Iraq, the second-biggest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), plans to export a record of around 3.63 million barrels per day from its southern oil terminals in February, trade sources said. They cited a preliminary loading program, up 8 percent from this month.

Nigeria's oil minister said a "couple" of OPEC members had requested an emergency meeting, adding that current market conditions support the need to hold such a gathering.

But OPEC has no plan to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the drop in oil prices before its next scheduled gathering in June, two OPEC delegates said on Tuesday. "There won't be any meeting," said one of the delegates from an African OPEC member country.

Oil major BP announced plans to cut at least 4,000 jobs in the face of oil's sustained declines.