UPDATE 9-Oil lower on coronavirus fears despite Fed rate cut and hopes for OPEC+ output cut

* Fed rate cut boosts prices briefly
* OPEC+ panel recommends additional output cuts
* OPEC and allies to meet March 5-6 to discuss output cuts

(Updates with settlement prices, additional details)
By Jessica Resnick-Ault
NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) - The global oil benchmark ended
Tuesday slightly lower under pressure from falling equities, but
the losses were contained slightly as top producers considered
more output cuts to support prices and the Federal Reserve cut
U.S. interest rates to support the economy.
Oil fared better than other risk assets classes, with U.S.
crude gaining slightly in the session, even as equity markets
fell more than 3%.
Crude has tumbled so far this year due to fears that
coronavirus could sap global demand. Brent has fallen 21% and
U.S. crude has fallen nearly 23%.
Fed efforts to stimulate the U.S. economy and OPEC's planned
rate cuts staunched some of the losses on Tuesday, as heavy
volumes were traded. On Tuesday 399,600 contracts for the Brent
front-month LCOc1 and 971,000 for WTI CLc1 changed hands.
That compares with 417,555 for Brent and 949,741 for WTI on
Monday.
Brent crude settled down 4 cents at $51.86 a barrel, after a
volatile session. U.S. crude settled up 43 cents a barrel at
$47.18.
Prices rose sharply after the Fed rate cut, with Brent
hitting a session high of $53.90 a barrel, and U.S. crude
touching $48.66 a barrel. But prices retreated and turned
negative as investors worried about severe global demand
destruction from coronavirus.
The U.S. rate cut briefly supported oil prices, but the
Fed's action also suggested that the situation was more serious
than many traders had thought, said Bob Yawger, director of
energy futures at Mizuho in New York.
Crude prices took a knock when a panel of OPEC and its
allies, the Joint Technical Committee (JTC), recommended
extending existing cuts to the end of 2020 and a further cut of
600,000 bpd in the second quarter, the same level it recommended
last month. "You need at least 1 million barrels in additional
production cuts, and additional central bank intervention to
support the global economy," said Yawger.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
allied producers including Russia will consider substantial oil
production cuts to lift prices that have tumbled with the
coronavirus outbreak, Algeria's oil minister said on Tuesday, as
ministers began arriving for talks in Vienna. Several members of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) are mulling a bigger output cut of
possibly 1 million barrels per day (bpd). Brent and WTI have rebounded over the past two days after
sliding more than 20% from their January peak on signs the
spread of the coronavirus had dented fuel demand.
After the Fed made its first emergency rate cut since the
financial crisis, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the coronavirus
posed a material risk to the economic outlook.
Leonid Fedun, vice-president of Russia's second-biggest oil
producer Lukoil LKOH.MM , said OPEC's proposed additional cut
would be enough to lift crude prices back to $60 a barrel, which
suggested Russia may agree to cut output further. The coronavirus, which originated in China, has spread to
more than 60 countries and has killed more than 3,000 people
globally. In the United States, about 100 people have tested
positive. Other major central banks have promised monetary and fiscal
stimulus. Also, G7 finance ministers will discuss how to cushion
the economic impact of the outbreak, French Finance Minister
Bruno Le Maire said on Monday.
Oil stockpiles in the United States, the world's biggest
crude producer and consumer, are expected to rise for a sixth
week by 3.3 million barrels, while refined product inventories
are forecast to fall, according to Reuters poll.