Oil steadies after big fall

Oil Stock Markets

Oil prices steadied on Thursday, supported by healthy demand, after falling the previous day on the back of record U.S. crude production and rising inventories. 

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $64.46 per barrel at 0506 GMT, up 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their previous close. That slight rise came after a more-than-2 percent fall the previous day.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $61.26 a barrel, up 11 cents, or 0.2 percent. WTI also fell by more than 2 percent the previous session.

The slight recovery on Thursday came amid a U.S. crude inventory build that was not as big as expected during the current seasonal demand lull at the end of winter, when many oil refineries shut down for maintenance. 

The EIA reported late on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories C-STK-EIA rose by 2.4 million barrels in the week to March 2, to 425.91 million barrels, less than the 2.7 million barrel increase analysts had forecast.

On the demand side, U.S. bank Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients dated March 7 that the outlook remained for healthy growth, despite recent signs of a slight economic slowdown.

Despite this, soaring U.S. production, which last week marked another record, at 10.37 million barrels per day (bpd), is looming over oil markets.