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New York - Oil prices steadied on Thursday after recent heavy falls but analysts said investors remain worried about excessive global supplies.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery edged up 14 cents to finish at $48.79 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February, the international benchmark, fell in London. Brent settled at $50.96 a barrel, down 19c from Wednesday's closing level.
"Oil prices have been enjoying a slight recovery since yesterday after having plunged by more than 10 percent in the preceding two days of trading," Commerzbank analysts said in a research note, but added there was no reversal in the downward trend.
Commerzbank highlighted that Wednesday's US Department of Energy weekly petroleum report showed a drop in US crude supplies last week, just below record highs, but also revealed big increases in stocks of US gasoline and distillates.
"The oversupply on the US oil market is now also being reflected in sharply rising stocks of oil products there," said the analysts of the German bank.
Phil Flynn, an analyst with Price Futures Group, said that the "fundamentals are so weak on this market that we have a hard time rallying."
The strong dollar is weighing on dollar-priced oil demand, he said. Oil prices have shed about half their value since June.
Matt Smith of Schneider Electric said the market was finding "more US-centric positivity" from expectations ahead of Friday's US jobs report for December, closely watched as a gauge of the health of the world's largest economy.
Analysts predicted slower, but solid, job growth of 245 000, and the unemployment rate ticking down to 5.7% from 5.8% in November.
