Oil steady as talk of new Opec deal balances US exports

Oil prices steadied on Thursday on expectations that Saudi Arabia and Russia would extend production cuts, although record US exports and the return of supply from a Libyan oilfield dragged on the market.

“Opec and Russia are talking about extending production limits, but there's still plenty of supply with US crude exports up sharply,” said Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Brent crude was up 35 cents at $56.15 a barrel by 1000 GMT US light crude was up 10 cents at $50.08.

Both crude benchmarks have fallen more than 5 percent over the last week as investors have booked profits after almost three months of gains.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that a pledge by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, including Russia, to cut oil output to boost prices could be extended to the end of 2018, instead of expiring in March 2018.