Oil prices steady around $62 a barrel, supported by weak dollar

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied around $62 a barrel on Wednesday drawing support from a weakened dollar despite concerns of a global supply glut after industry data showed a build in U.S. crude inventories for the 15th straight week.

Brent crude for June delivery was up 13 cents at $62.21 a barrel by 1206 GMT, reversing earlier losses. U.S. crude for June delivery fell 7 cents to $56.54 a barrel.

The dollar was down 0.28 percent against a basket of currencies <.DXY> making dollar-backed commodities, like crude oil, more attractive for holders of other currencies.

"It's been a slow week for data," said Kash Kamal, analyst at Sucden Financial. "Most investors are tracking the dollar and adjusting positions accordingly."

Prices also drew support from continued fighting in Yemen, despite Saudi Arabia saying on Tuesday it was ending a month-long campaign against the Iran-allied Houthi rebels. Yemen sits on key shipping lanes used to transport oil from the Arab Gulf to Europe via the Suez Canal.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks rose by 5.5 million barrels last week, higher than the 2.9-million-barrel build expected by analysts in a Reuters survey, to a record 480.2 million barrels. [EIA/S] [API/S]

Stocks at the key delivery point of Cushing, Oklahoma rose by 572,000 barrels, the API said. Energy markets intelligence firm Genscape said tanks at Cushing were nearly 80 percent full.

"You have a considerable build in the U.S.," said Olivier Jakob, chief analyst at Swiss-based consultancy Petromatrix.

"There has been a lot of waiting and hoping for the first drop of stocks in Cushing and that has not happened yet," he said.

Official U.S. stocks data will be issued by the government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) at 1430 GMT on Wednesday.

Oil prices had gained nearly $10 a barrel this month on tensions in the Middle East and concerns over slowing output growth in the United States, before starting to drop back.

Prices are unlikely to plumb new depths this year, however, leading commodity traders said on Tuesday, citing strengthening demand.

"We will probably see one more dip in the second quarter but prices probably won't go below this year's lows," said Ian Taylor, head of the world's top oil trader, Vitol .

(Additional reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Singapore; Editing by Dale Hudson and Susan Thomas)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky