Oil steadies

Singapore

Crude oil futures were largely unchanged on Thursday, with the market torn between rising U.S. production and the output cuts being made by OPEC and other producers.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were flat at $55.86 a barrel by 0657. The market had climbed to a one-month high of $56.65 on Wednesday before losing ground.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 6 cents at $53.05 a barrel.

They touched their highest since March 7 at $53.76 barrel in the previous session.

Traders focused on preliminary U.S. production estimates in the weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) report that suggested domestic output is still climbing.

The report also showed stockpiles at the U.S. crude hub at Cushing, Oklahoma, rose 276,000 barrels in the week ended April 7.Still, data showed an unexpected drop in overall U.S. crude inventories, which fell last week by 2.2 million barrels as imports declined by 717,000 barrels a day.