NEW YORK — Oil prices eked out small gains Thursday after falling below $60 in New York for the first time since late May as the market pondered sluggish energy demand in major economies.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, rose 27 cents to close at $60.41 a barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in August gained 67 cents to settle at $61.10 a barrel.

"Not surprisingly, oil prices have turned higher after falling for six consecutive sessions," said John Kilduff of MF Global.

"This suggests only that the market had entered oversold territory and not that perceptions have shifted."

The New York futures contract hit an intraday low of $59.25, crossing below the $60 threshold for the first time since May 26.

The contract has lost more than $13 from its highs last week.

"For some people, they look at $60 and they want to buy at that level," said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.

But, he said, "what’s weighing on the market is the amount of inventories" in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer.

In its weekly oil inventories report Wednesday, the Department of Energy reported a sharp spike in gasoline and other oil product inventories in the past week.

Although crude oil inventories plunged a sharper-than-expected 2.9 million barrels in the week ending July 3, the decline was driven by a surge in refinery use.

By contrast, US oil product stockpiles have ballooned in recent weeks because of weak demand amid a severe recession that began in December 2007.

US oil demand over the past four weeks was down 5.9 percent from the same period in 2008.

"Broadly, oil consumption is significantly below last year's levels in the US, Europe and OECD Asia, particularly in Japan," Francisco Blanch said in a Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch research report.

"With crude oil and petroleum product inventories at very high levels, we think any near-term upside to oil prices will be limited," he said.

"More importantly, we believe OPEC compliance will ease further over the next few months as higher prices encourage increased production among cartel members."

In the $60 range, prices are some 25 percent below the officially desirable level set by the major oil consumers and producers.

On Wednesday, Group of Eight leaders meeting in Italy implicitly approved oil around $75 a barrel, the price goal determined by OPEC a year ago.

G8 leaders agreed that $70-$80 was a "fair" price for a barrel of oil, a spokeswoman for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.