08:37 AM EDT, 10/17/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices held steady early on Thursday, sticking near two-week lows as geopolitical worries ease even as a report showed an unexpected drop in U.S. inventories last week.

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was last seen up US$0.06 to US$70.45 per barrel, while December Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up US$0.08 to US$74.30.

Prices fell to the lowest since Oct.2 on Wednesday on easing worries an expected retaliatory attack on Iran for its Oct.1 missile strike on Israel would target oil infrastructure after reports said Israel plans to only attack Iranian military assets.

Falling oil inventories offered little support, as the American Petroleum Institute's weekly survey released on Wednesday reported stocks fell by 1.58-million barrels last week, while the consensus estimate among analysts polled by Oilprice.com expected a rise of 3.2-million barrels. The Energy Information Administration will release official inventory data later on Thursday, a day late due to the holiday weekend.

Still, weak demand from China and the December start to OPEC+'s plan to restore 2.2-million bpd of production cuts with monthly supply additions of 180,000-barrels per day for a year are also keeping a check on prices.

"Crude oil remains rangebound as demand worries, especially in China, a country at the forefront of electrification, and the prospect of increased OPEC+ supply offsetting a potential threat to Middle East supplies," Saxo Bank noted.