Oil futures steadied on Thursday as the market awaited confirmation of industry data that showed a surprise increase in U.S. crude stocks, which offset hopes for a demand recovery as coronavirus lockdowns ease.

After tumbling on Wednesday, Brent crude LCOc1 futures were down 0.06%, or 2 cents, at $34.72 a barrel at 13:11 GMT after dropping by more than $1 to $33.62 in early trade.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures were down 0.3%, or 10 cents, at $32.71. U.S. futures earlier slipped as much as 5% to a low of $31.14.