Investing.com - Crude oil prices steadied near multi-year highs on Wednesday, even as concerns over geopolitical tensions began to ease, as supply cut efforts by global oil producers continued to support the commodity.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude February contract was steady at $60.39 a barrel by 04:00 a.m. ET (08:00 GMT), just off a two-and-a-half year high of $60.73 hit on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for March delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London was little changed at $66.56 a barrel, still close to a nearly three-year peak of $67.29 hit in the previous session.
Oil prices had climbed amid Iranian protests, marking the biggest challenge to the country's clerical leadership since 2009. However, the protests were showing no signs of impacting Iran's oil production.
Crude prices continued to be supported by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia. The producers agreed in December to extend current oil output cuts until the end of 2018.
The deal to cut oil output by 1.8 million barrels a day (bpd) was adopted last winter by OPEC, Russia and nine other global producers. The agreement was due to end in March 2018, having already been extended once.
Elsewhere, gasoline futures were little changed at $1.762 a gallon, while natural gas futures lost 1.41% to $3.014 per million British thermal units.