But the oil market has roughly followed the mood on Wall Street in recent weeks, which has been shaken by fears about China’s economic outlook.

The two-day rebound in prices, which had dipped as low as $37 a barrel in recent days and which remain more than 50 percent below last summer’s levels, suggested to some analysts that the market might have established or approached a low.

In an investor note on Friday, Morgan Stanley identified several possible catalysts for an oil price recovery, including a potentially large Chinese fiscal stimulus package to foster greater economic growth, more resilient United States economic growth, a future decline in American oil production, and a congressional vote against the Iran nuclear deal, which it said “could undermine confidence in the deal’s success.”

One reason for the recent price decline is the prospect that Iran could provide as much as a million more barrels a day to the 94-million-barrel global market in a year or so if sanctions are lifted. The market today is as much as two million barrels a day oversupplied.

But most oil company executives remain skeptical that oil prices will again approach the $100-a-barrel level anytime soon. They note that China faces continuing economic turmoil that could deplete demand for energy throughout the developing world economies that have been supplying it with raw materials and buying its manufactured goods.