SINGAPORE, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices steadied above $104 a barrel on Thursday as higher-than-expected U.S. crude stocks helped balance support from unrest in Libya and the Middle East.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NYMEX crude for May delivery
* ICE Brent crude
* U.S. crude inventories rose 2.95 million barrels last week and Cushing oil stocks climbed to a record, but gasoline stocks fell sharply, the Energy Information Administration said.
* President Barack Obama proposed to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, a goal that eluded his predecessors and seen as extremely ambitious by analysts sceptical it can succeed. [ID:nN30123808]
* As Libyan rebels fled in headlong retreat from the superior arms and tactics of Muammar Gaddafi's troops, U.S. officials said President Obama had signed a secret order authorizing covert support for the rebels. [ID:nLDE72T0HB]
* Libya's government warned that it would sue any international company that concluded energy deals with rebels who control some of the country's oil infrastructure, the state news agency reported. [ID:nLDE72T1L2]
* Top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have boosted output in March, helping to make up for supply lost due to violence in Libya, a Reuters survey found. [ID:nLDE72T13R]
MARKET NEWS
* U.S. private employers added more than 200,000 jobs in March while planned layoffs fell, underscoring expectations that momentum in the labour market will help underpin the economic recovery. [ID:nN30275708]
* ECB Executive Board Member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi warned that the euro zone's debt woes could spread beyond its periphery, adding that the coming years are likely to be just as tough as the last few for central bankers. [ID:nLDE72T1E1]
* The yen slipped across the board hitting fresh 10-month lows versus the euro and holding near a three-week trough against the dollar as expectations grew that Japan will lag euro zone and U.S. central banks in raising interest rates.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0430 Japan Govt oil demand, trade data Feb 0500 Japan Construction orders yy Feb 2011 0600 Germany Retail sales yy real Feb 2011 0800 Germany Unemployment rate sa Mar 2011 0900 EZ Inflation, flash yy Mar 2011 1230 U.S. Unemployment claims Weekly 1400 U.S. Factory Orders Feb 2011 1430 U.S. EIA natural gas stocks Weekly (Reporting by Randy Fabi; Editing by Ed Lane)