Oil holds gains amid US drilling slowdown, Libya output threat

Melbourne

OIL held gains after a third weekly advance as US companies slowed drilling and Libya's state oil company threatened to halt the African nation's production.

Futures were little changed in New York after climbing 3.1 per cent on Feb 13. Drillers cut the number of rigs in service by 84 to 1,056, the fewest since August 2011, data from Baker Hughes Inc showed. Libya's National Oil said that it would stop pumping crude at all fields if the authorities fail to contain an escalation of attacks on facilities that has reduced output to the lowest in a year.