Oil gained over 6 last week on OPEC cuts, US inventory drop
Progress on resuming Iraq northern oil exports in view
US inflation data to help investors gauge Fed rate hike path
OPEC, IEA reports due this week

LONDON, April 10 Reuters Oil steadied on Monday, after rising for three straight weeks, as looming supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers balanced concern about weakening global growth that may dampen fuel demand.

Crude last week jumped more than 6 after OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC and allies including Russia, surprised the market with a new round of production cuts starting in May.

Brent crude rose 18 cents, or 0.2, to 85.30 a barrel by 1009 GMT on Monday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 11 cents to 80.81.

Those who were bearish are questioning the demand outlook in light of the cuts, whilst clearly those who were bullish are now seeing even a tighter market over the second half, ING39;s head of commodities research Warren Patterson said.

I am in the latter camp and still see prices moving higher from here as we go through the year.

Adding to tightness in supply has been a shutdown of Iraq39;s northern exports. A deal was signed last week to restart the flows, but as of Thursday they hadn39;t resumed.

Oil also drew support from a steeperthanexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, as well as a decline in gasoline and distillate stocks, hinting at rising demand.

In global…