Oil Steadies, China Rate Hike Unsettles LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Friday after an eight percent rout driven by a surprise interest rate hike in China that raised doubts about demand from the world's second largest energy user. U.S. light crude (CLc1: Quote , Profile , Research ) gained 24 cents to $51.16 a barrel after losing $1.54 on Thursday. London Brent crude (LCOZ4: Quote , Profile , Research ) rose four cents to $48.36 a barrel. A price fall of nearly $5 from an all-time high of $55.67 began after U.S. government data on Wednesday showed an unexpectedly large rise in crude oil supplies last week. Profit-taking continued after China on Thursday announced its first rate rise for almost a decade as it attempts to cool runaway economic growth that has played a major role in driving up world energy demand. But analysts and traders predicted any weakness in prices would be short-lived and that oil supplies would remain overstretched for the foreseeable future. "We think it's simply an interruption of the trend and not the end of it. Nothing fundamentally has changed," said Kevin Norrish of Barclays Capital. "The Chinese rate rise in its own right is tiny, though it is symbolic," he added. Other analysts also said the rate rise would have a limited impact and that ongoing shortages in China's power sector would continue to fire the nation's hunger for oil, even though energy demand is not expected to continue at this year's breakneck pace. "The factors that are driving oil demand continue to be in place even with an interest rate hike," said Scott Roberts, Beijing-based analyst for Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "The reality is that China's power shortage will continue for the next several years no matter whether or not there will be a change in interest rates," he said. China's oil demand growth is expected to slow from this year's 14.5 percent to 5.7 percent next year, the International Energy Agency said in its latest report. OPEC CAN DO NO MORE Oil prices have reached record levels despite the fact the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping virtually at full throttle. The cartel is pumping more than 30 million bpd, its highest output in 25 years, but the crude is predominantly hard-to-refine heavy crude, which gives relatively low yields of the distillates now in high demand. "OPEC has done everything we can do to cool the market. I don't believe there is a shortage on the supply side," Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told Reuters during a visit to China. "We are already oversupplying by two million barrels per day." Quelle "Oil Steadies, China Rate Hike Unsettles" : reuters.com Main page for "Oil Steadies, China Rate Hike Unsettles"