OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2015. The rebound in oil lost its momentum on Tuesday, with crude prices falling for the first time in four sessions after the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of more selloffs in the near term as stocks continue to rise.

Oil stockpiles in member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which groups the world's richest nations, may approach a record 2.83 billion barrels by mid-2015, said the IEA, which advises the West on energy policy.

U.S. crude futures fell below \\$51 a barrel, heading for a test of the \\$50 support level. By 11:18 a.m. EST (1618 GMT), U.S. crude was down \\$1.87 at \\$50.99, after a session low at \\$50.79.

Benchmark Brent crude fell \\$1.03 to \\$57.31.

"It's the battle of the oil outlooks playing out here," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital. "The IEA report is a good reminder that there's still a lot of supply to come and it doesn't give much hope for the bulls who say we've hit bottom and are now on the way up."

While the supply-demand balance in oil was expected to tighten by end-2015, the IEA cautioned that "downward market pressures may not have run their course just yet".

The agency also predicted that demand for OPEC oil will hold at 29.4 million barrels per day this year, and said U.S. shale oil output growth will pause before regaining momentum.

The IEA's outlook was markedly bearish from OPEC's monthly report on Monday which forecast 2015 demand for oil in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will rise to 29.2 million bpd, up 430,000 bpd from an earlier forecast.

Swiss-based, Dutch-owned energy and commodity trader Vitol added to the bearish market sentiment, with Chief Executive Ian Taylor telling the International Petroleum Week conference in London that he expects a "dramatic" build in oil stocks over the next few months.

Analysts polled by Reuters estimated U.S. crude stockpiles likely rose 3.8 million barrels to a record high last week. Industry group American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly report at 4:30 p.m EST, followed by government data on Wednesday.