Oil held steady around $64 today after strong gains this week amid forecasts of rebounding demand growth and lower US fuel inventories ahead of winter.
US crude oil futures edged down five cents to $64.07 a barrel earlier but stood 3.5 per cent higher this week. London Brent crude shed two cents to $60.55 a barrel.
Analysts said forecasts of healthy US demand heading into winter, after worries that high prices were taking a toll on major consumers, were supporting a market only slowly recovering from disruptions to supplies from hurricanes and strikes.
US distillate stocks, including heating oil, were forecast to have dropped 1.7 million barrels last week in the world's top oil consumer, which would be a third-straight week of falls.
Analysts in a Reuters survey also forecast gasoline stocks to have fallen by 1.6 million barrels in government data due at this afternoon, though crude levels were seen rising by 2.1 million barrels as imports rebounded.
Analysts said fears of a winter supply shortage were justified, after the US government said it could be many months before the energy industry makes a complete recovery from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.