New York - XINHUA
U.S. oil price steadied Wednesday as a report of Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that U.S. crude supplies dropped last week, meeting market expectation.
For the week ending June 6, the total crude stockpiles in the United States decreased 2.6 million barrels to 386.9 million.
Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI, fell 200,000 barrels to 21.2 million. Cushing stockpiles have slipped from 41.8 million barrels in late January when the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline started to transport crude to Gulf Coast refineries.
U.S crude production gained 77,000 barrels to 8.46 million barrels per day.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reaffirmed its production target of 30 million barrels a day at the Vienna meeting Wednesday, a widely-expected decision. The OPEC accounts for about 40 percent of the world's crude output.
Brent oil price was boosted by the geopolitical risks in Iraq. The al-Qaeda militants are in position to seize Iraqi energy infrastructure in the northern part of the country.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery moved up 5 cents to settle at 104.4 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery gained 43 cents to close at 109.95 dollars a barrel.