By Christopher Johnson
LONDON (Reuters) - Brent (brent.167)crude oil steadied around $63 a barrel on Tuesday, not far below the 2015 high, supported by worries that a civil war in Yemen could destabilize the Middle East, affecting oil supplies.
Oil has climbed around 15 percent this month due to concern over the conflict in Yemen, Saudi Arabia's southern neighbor.
The seaways around Yemen are some of the most important for the international oil trade with access points to the Red Sea and Suez Canal as well as the Middle East Gulf.
The U.S. Navy said on Monday it had sent an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile cruiser into nearby waters.
Brent hit a 2015 high of almost $65 a barrel on April 16, up more than 40 percent from a January low just above $45.
Prices have also been supported by speculation over falling U.S. output after data showing the number of U.S. exploration and production oil rigs fell to their lowest since 2010.
Brent crude for June
"Geopolitics is supporting oil at the moment," said Tamas Varga, analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates.
But the oil market is oversupplied and there has been a rapid build of inventories, particularly in the United States.
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories are forecast to have increased by 2.4 million barrels last week, rising for the 15th consecutive week, a preliminary Reuters survey showed.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told Reuters in Seoul this week that the world's top crude exporter expected to produce at near record highs of around 10 million barrels per day (bpd) in April.
The head of the world's largest oil trading company, Vitol, said on Tuesday oil prices were likely to slip back as refineries undergo maintenance work in the second quarter.
"We will probably see another dip in oil prices in Q2", but they won't go below January lows, Ian Taylor told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Lausanne, Switzerland.
That is a view shared by many analysts, including Commerzbank's Carsten Fritsch, who sees Brent heading down to the low $50s a barrel last seen in March."Brent could test the March lows again," Fritsch told Reuters Global Oil Forum.
(Additional reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Singapore; Editing by Alison Williams)
