Oil prices steadied on 2 May as OPEC raised the possibility of further intervention in the market to stem the fall in prices and US crude stocks rose less than expected in the week to 25 April. Stocks rose by only 0.6 per cent to 288 million barrels, still 11.7 per cent lower than at the same time a year earlier. 'The issue with crude oil is not that inventories have built but that they haven't built by more, given that time available to build more headroom is beginning to run out,' says Paul Hornsell of JP Morgan Securities.