London — Oil prices were steady on Thursday, holding gains made the previous session after falling US crude and oil product inventories lifted the market. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, stood at $49.72 a barrel at 9.39am GMT, 2c up from their last settlement. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $47.10 a barrel, 2c below their last close. Prices for both rose more than 1.5% in the previous session on a report showing US crude and fuel inventories fell last week. US crude inventories dropped by 4.7-million barrels in the week to July 14, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), more than the analyst forecast of a 3.2-million barrel decrease. Petrol stocks fell by 4.7-million barrels, well above the expectation for a 655,000 barrel drop. Middle distillate inventories fell by 2.1-million barrels, versus the expectation for a 1.2-million barrels increase. "The marked reduction in [petrol] and distillate stock...
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