LONDON, July 27: World oil prices stabilized on Wednesday as traders digested a US stocks report that was mostly in line with market expectations, dealers said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, firmed 10 cents to 59.30 dollars per barrel in early deals.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September eased four cents to $57.99 per barrel. US crude oil and petrol stocks fell over the past week but reserves of products used for diesel and heating oil went up, according to the US government’s Department of Energy.

Alaron Trading oil broker Phil Flynn said the DoE survey was “pretty neutral” for the markets. The DoE said that crude oil stocks fell by 2.3m barrels to 317.8m barrels in the week ending July 22 but were still above average for this time of year.

The market had anticipated a fall in US crude stockpiles after recent hurricanes disrupted production at oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, a key supply region for the United States.—AFP