LONDON, April 5 Reuters Oil prices were stable on Wednesday, as the market weighed gloomy economic prospects against expectations of U.S. crude inventory declines and OPEC39;s voluntary output cuts announcement.

Brent crude futures gained 22 cents, or 0.26, to 85.16 a barrel by 0747 GMT. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude was up 12 cents, or 0.15, to 80.83 a barrel.

Support followed an industry report showed showing U.S. crude inventories fell by about 4.3 million barrels in the week ended March 31. The official inventory report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due at 1430 GMT on Wednesday.

Bullish sentiment continued after voluntary cuts pledged by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC.

Energy traders are still digesting the OPEC surprise production cut and any news that suggests the oil market will remain even tighter is going to send prices even higher, said Edward Moya, an analyst at OANDA.

The OPEC plan would bring the total volume of cuts by the group to 3.66 million barrels per day bpd, including a 2 million bpd cut last October, equal to about 3.7 of global demand.

However, weak manufacturing activity in the U.S. and China the two biggest oil consumers have capped oil oil price gains.

The present raises concerns about healthy economic expansion as Chinese, euro zone and U.S. manufacturing activity slowed last month, said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

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