16.11.201702:59:00UTC+00Oil Steady as OPEC Cuts Offset Rising U.S. Production

Oil markets were on a steady footing as increasing U.S. crude production and inventories were countered by bets that OPEC will prolong an ongoing production cut during a meeting in Vienna at the end of November.

Brent crude futures traded at $61.98 per barrel, 11 cents higher from their last finish. Meanwhile, US WTI crude futures traded at $55.37 per barrel, up 4 cents from their last close.

Regardless of these marginal gains, both contracts have fallen by around 4 percent from their last close since reaching 2015 highs in the previous week, partially weighed down by increasing crude supply in the U.S.

For a second week in a row, U.S. crude inventories increased, rising by 1.9 million barrels in the week ending November 10 to 459 million barrels, data from EIA showed. The numbers are contrary to the expected 2.2 million barrel decline by analysts.

U.S. crude oil production reached a record of 9.65 million bpd, meaning output has increased by almost 15 percent since their most recent low hit in mid-2016.

Despite the rise in supplies, analysts said prices were still supported by expectations that OPEC will extend a deal to lower production longer than the deadline of March 2018.