Oil traded below $31 a barrel after U.S. crude stockpiles rose to the highest in more than eight decades as Saudi Arabia and Russia propose to freeze output amid a worldwide surplus. Futures lost as much as 1.4 percent in New York, trimming the first weekly advance this month. U.S. supplies expanded to 504 million barrels, the highest level in data going back to 1930, according to the Energy Information Administration. Iraq said Thursday it backs any decision to support prices and balance the market without indicating whether it would cap its own output. “The market was caught by surprise by the rise in the U.S. inventories,” Jens Pedersen, a Danske Bank A/S analyst in Copenhagen, said by phone. “We need both adjustments on the supply side, for example producers scaling back on new investments which will lead to less supplies going forward,” and an improvement in demand, he […]