Oil Boom Profits

Oil steadied on Friday at around $59 a barrel in trade muted by the long U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend, after tumbling on a rise in stockpiles in top oil consumer the United States.

Prices dropped nearly $1 on Wednesday after a U.S. government report showed crude stocks rose by 5.1 million barrels last week, much more than expected, adding to already ample supplies.

"In this market, people would not wish to be long over the weekend," said analyst Deborah White of SGCIB. "Inventories in the U.S. remain extremely comfortable -- we had a massive crude stockbuild."

U.S. crude was down 3 cents at $59.21 a barrel. London Brent gained 5 cents to $59.40 at 1005 GMT.

The New York Mercantile Exchange is shut for the two-day Thanksgiving holiday, while electronic trade is continuing.

Oil's drop from a record high of $78.40 hit in July prompted the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in October to cut oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day from November 1.

But rising inventories and analysts' skepticism over whether OPEC, which pumps more than a third of world supply, will adhere to the cutback in full has pressured prices.

On Thursday, the oil minister for OPEC's smallest producer Qatar dulled down comments made last week on the prospect of a further cut in OPEC output.

"It's too early now to jump to the front seat and say what we will do, what is the quantity if we want to cut," Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told reporters in Seoul.

Last week Attiyah told Reuters OPEC had "no choice but to accept a cut" when it meets in Nigeria next month, and that a $60 U.S. crude oil price was "moderate".

Prices over the past few weeks have dipped below $55 before rebounding to around $60 despite bulging U.S. inventories and warm winter in the United States suppressing demand.