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Hong Kong - Oil steadied near $52 a barrel as an increase in US crude supplies was countered by a plunge in gasoline inventories, showing the rebalancing of the global market remains a slow process.
Futures were little changed in New York after falling 0.6% on Wednesday. Crude inventories climbed by 856,000 barrels last week while gasoline supplies lost 5.47 million, the first drop since mid-September, according to the Energy Information Administration.
In Riyadh, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman backed the extension of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) production cuts beyond March 2018.
Oil is holding gains above $50 a barrel as speculation mounts that supply curbs by members of Opec and its allies including Russia will be prolonged when they meet in Vienna on November 30.
In Iraq, the state oil company is working with a Kurdish firm to resume pumping at two disputed fields after government troops recaptured them from Kurdish forces.
"Crude oil did not play its anticipated part in the weekly draw, as inventories rose," said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates in London. Still, with overall stockpiles dropping, "it is undeniable that rebalancing is under way."
West Texas Intermediate for December delivery was at $52.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 5 cents, at 9:45am. London time. Total volume traded was about 55% below the 100-day average.
Prices lost 29 cents to $52.18 on Wednesday.
Brent for December settlement fell 14 cents to $58.30 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, after gaining 11 cents on Wednesday. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $6.15 to WTI.
Prince Mohammed said in an interview with Bloomberg News that "of course" he wanted to extend Opec’s production cuts in 2018, making it all but certain the group and its allies will roll over the curbs at a meeting next month.
Oil-market news:
Crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the biggest US oil-storage hub, fell by 237 000 barrels to 63.7 million last week, the first drop in nine weeks, the EIA said on Wednesday.
US crude output rebounded to more than 9.5 million barrels a day as the impact from Tropical Storm Nate receded. Iraqi forces deployed heavy weapons, tanks and artilleries near Mosul and are expected to launch a major attack on Peshmerga forces in Zumar and Rabia, the Kurdistan region’s Security Council said in a statement.
Oil will stabilise between $55 to $60 a barrel in the near term, according to Apollo Global Management chief executive officer Leon Black.
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