Crude-oil prices rose Thursday, but still hovered around five-year lows after crashing on a surprise jump in inventories and further signs that the world’s biggest oil cartel is going to just stand by and watch.

In electronic trade, light, sweet crude for delivery in January CLF5, +0.72% rose 56 cents, or 0.9%, to $61.49 a barrel. Wednesday marked the lowest settlement since July 2009 on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the commodity, at $60.94 a barrel.

January Brent crude LCOF5, +0.76% added 39 cents, or 0.6%, to $64.65 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. Wednesday’s settlement of $64.24 a barrel was Brent’s lowest settlement since July 2009 as well.

Oil was dealt a series of blows on Wednesday. Among them, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said oil inventories rose by 1.5 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 5, against forecasts for a decrease in supplies of around 3 million barrels.

An oversupply of oil due to rising U.S domestic oil production and expectations of weak demand for crude have been piling on crude-oil prices, with WTI down 38% as the year draws to a close. Brent has collapsed by roughly the same.

Oil is on its own, says Saudi Arabia: The pile-on effect for crude came after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries announced Wednesday that it sees less demand for its own oil next year.

Then reporters managed to snag Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on the sidelines of an annual U.N. climate-change conference in Lima, Peru on Wednesday.

According to various media reports, al-Naimi was asked whether he thought the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would need to cut oil production prior to the cartel’s next meeting in June. “Why should we cut production? Why?” he reportedly responded.

Analysts at CAN said that comment was a “heavy blow to an already weak market. “One school of thought, albeit a minority, were still of the view that the decline in crude-oil prices will be a relatively short-lived affair. Comments like this can only be designed to dispel such optimism,” said the analysts in a note.

What floor? Tumbling crude prices had a crippling effect across global markets, driving the worst rout in U.S. stocks in two months on Wednesday as the energy sector crumbled. The S&P 500 SPX, -1.64% index fell 33.68 points, or 1.6%, to 2,026.14, its biggest one-day percentage drop since Oct 13.

Nor are analysts seemingly ready to call a floor for oil. Jameel Ahmad, Chief Market Analyst for FXTM said in a note oil markets need a few things working for a comeback to happen.

“For this, the economic conditions for the oil markets have to change, which is an unlikely possibility given OPEC’s decision not to cut production a fortnight ago,” said Jameel Ahmad, Chief Market Analyst for FXTM, in a note.

Elsewhere in energy trading, gasoline for January delivery RBF5, +0.37% rose 2 cents, or 1%, to $1.65700 a gallon in electronic trade after settling Wednesday at its lowest since September 2009.

Nymex January heating oil HOF5, +0.88% added 2 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.0648 a gallon. Heating oil saw its lowest finish since September 2010 on Wednesday.

January natural gas NGF15, +0.81% gained 2 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.7362 per million British thermal units.

MarketWatch