London — Oil prices steadied on Thursday, holding on to most of their recent gains after another fall in US crude inventories indicated a tighter market, and as a tropical storm headed towards oil-producing facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. Benchmark Brent crude was down 5c a barrel at $52.52 by 9.25am GMT. US light, sweet crude was 10c lower at $48.31 a barrel. Both contracts rose more than 1% on Wednesday, buoyed by potential output disruptions from the Gulf of Mexico storm tropical storm Harvey. "For the next few days, the US market is going to be focused on Texas as tropical depression Harvey is expected to strengthen into a category 1 hurricane by Friday," said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta. "Operators in the area are already closing down platforms and evacuating workers as a precaution." Harvey strengthened into a tropical storm late on Wednesday night with winds of about 65km/h and was located about 705km south-east of Port Mansfield, Texas, the US...
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