* Profit-taking weighs on Brent prices
* U.S. rig count down for 6th week - Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI)
* Saudi Arabia kept crude output steady in Sept, source says
(Adds analyst comments, updates prices)
By Koustav Samanta
NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices remained little
changed in choppy trade on Friday as traders flip-flopped
between the negative fundamentals of persistent oversupply and
support cushions from a sixth weekly decline in U.S. oil rig
counts.
Brent crude LCOc1 , the global benchmark, was down 43 cents
at $52.62 a barrel at 1:49 p.m. ET (1749 GMT), during a volatile
session that saw the contract touch an intraday high of $54.05.
U.S. crude CLc1 was up 9 cents at $49.52 a barrel, off a
two-month high of $50.92.
Despite today's losses, crude prices were still on track to
notch their highest weekly percentage gain in six weeks, but
some traders said the sharp rise earlier in the week was
overblown.
U.S. energy firms cut oil rigs for a sixth week in a row
this week, the longest streak of weekly declines since June,
data released on Friday showed, a sign low prices continued to
keep drillers away from the well pad. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N129147
Drillers removed nine oil rigs in the week ended Oct. 9,
bringing the total rig count down to 605, oil services company
Baker Hughes Inc BHI.N said in its closely followed report.
However, some oil analysts believe that fall might not be enough
to rein in the oil bears.
Jim Ritterbusch, president of Galena, Illinois-based
Ritterbusch & Associates, said earlier in the day that he would
be looking for a decrease of more than 10-15 rigs in Friday's
report in order to keep the short term bull move alive in the
oil markets.
Some traders said concerns about falling shale output in
Canada, as well as the Bakken region, added support to U.S.
crude.
"I think the market is repricing (U.S. crude) higher versus
other grades of crude in the Atlantic Basin because of this
fear," said Scott Shelton, oil broker and commodities specialist
at ICAP (LONDON:IAP) in Durham, North Carolina.
"Whether its 'fear' or 'reality' remains to be seen."
The momentum had been more bullish earlier in the session
after the U.S. central bank's meeting minutes on Thursday showed
more policymakers than expected had agreed to keep the first
interest rate hike in a decade on hold. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N128230
In the Middle East, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general
was killed near Aleppo, where he was advising the Syrian army.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1290ZZ
Saudi Arabia kept its crude oil production steady in
September, an industry source told Reuters, maintaining a high
level of output as part of a strategy to defend market share.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1290B8
(Additional by Barani Krishnan in New York; Editing by Alan
Crosby)