oil futures rose tuesday extending a bounce off 15month lows as worries over the us banking sector continued to ease oil found its footing monday after ending last week at a 15month low as us stocks including a swath of bank shares moved higher crude prices tumbled last week as worries over the banking sector amplified fears of a global economic downturn that could crimp demand for crude us stock futures pointed to further gains early tuesday us treasury secretary janet yellen on tuesday said the “the situation is stabilizing” after steps by the government to backstop deposits at banks “the price slide is chiefly attributable to concerns that oil demand could weaken as a result of the latest market turmoil even though there has been no sign of this happening as yet” said carsten fritsch commodity analyst at commerzbank in a note commerzbank lowered its midyear forecast for brent to 80 a barrel from 95 “though the latest price slide is due for the most part to higher risk aversion following the market turmoil it is not probable that this will be quickly and completely reversed” fritsch wrote “after all fundamentals such as market balance and stock levels no longer look as pricepositive as the international energy agency had previously predicted” commerzbank however still expects the oil price to rise in general because the organization of the petroleum exporting countries and its allies known as opec “is unlikely to stand idly by while the oil price continues to plunge and will no doubt reduce supply if necessary” if the oil market stabilizes its also likely the us government will move to replenish its strategic reserves he wrote and the oil market still appears on track to be significantly undersupplied in the second half of the year