Oil steadies

Reuters

Singapore

Oil traded steady on Friday, though it was set for its biggest weekly drop in about a month over doubts that an OPEC-led production cut will restore balance to a market that has been dogged by oversupply for more than two years.

Brent crude futures were at $52.99 per barrel at 0323 GMT, flat from their last close.

Brent futures are set for a 5.2 percent weekly drop, the most since the week of March 10. U.S.West Texas  Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were also almost unchanged, at $50.74 a barrel.

WTI is set for a 4.6 percent weekly decline, also the most since March 10.Reuters´ technical analyst Wang Tao said that WTI had support just above $50 per barrel, while Brent had support around $52.55.The stable prices on Friday followed a more-than-3.5 percent fall in both benchmarks earlier this week as doubts emerged over the effect of an effort led by the OPEC to cut production by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) during the first half of the year.