OIL: Brent holds above $48 after OPEC says crude prices bottomed

Market prices for the benchmark Brent held above $48 on Tuesday after the Secretary General of the OPEC cartel said that crude prices may have bottomed.
Abdullah al-Badri of the Vienna-based Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries issued a warning shot on Monday that future prices for black gold could even jump to $200 a barrel if investment in new supplies was too low.
Brent, that rose 17c to $48.33 in early trading on Tuesday, traded in the $48-50 a barrel range last week and showed little direction as crude oil markets continue to consolidate near term, analysts said.
Another benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was up 11 cents at $45.26 a barrel for March delivery after slipping to a daily low of $44.35 on Monday, close to its six-year low.
Crude oil prices have shed nearly 60% of their value from their peak in June 2014, in a tug of war between producers, as the US shale oil industry is experiencing a historical boom and OPEC members stubbornly refuse to cut their production output, with supply pushing prices down.