Brent crude oil slid back toward 11-year lows on Wednesday as indications of slowing global energy demand bumped up against record-high inventories. Benchmark Brent, near $37 per barrel, traded just $1 away from those lows reached last week as the primary supportive factor – an expected cold snap in Europe and the United States – was forecast to be short-lived. Front-month U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were trading at $36.92 per barrel at 0920 GMT, down 95 cents, or more than 2 percent, from their settlement in the previous session. Brent LCOc1 was down 80 cents at $36.99 a barrel, a decline of roughly 2 percent. “There is no significant improvement in the prompt fundamentals,” said Olivier Jakob, managing director of PetroMatrix, warning that low traded volumes into the new year made flat prices susceptible to sharp movements. Crude prices have plunged by two-thirds since mid-2014 as soaring output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and the United States led to a global surplus of between half a million and 2 million barrels per day.