On Friday, Venezuela said it will reduce oil output by 50,000 barrels a day to try and stem the recent fall in crude prices while Nigeria on Saturday said it is cutting oil exports by 5 percent in a move the state-owned oil company described as a routine seasonal reduction.
While the 11-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided earlier this month to hold to a 28 million barrel a day output quota, many traders say the group would like to rein in production if crude-oil futures drop much lower than US$60 a barrel.
"The market seems to have reached a floor in the low-US$60s due to the widespread feeling among traders that OPEC may be galvanized to control output or cut production if prices are below US$60 a barrel," said Victor Shum, an analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose 29 cents to US$63.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. The contract rose 15 cents on Friday to settle at US$62.91 a barrel.
Heating oil futures gained 1.25 cents to US$1.766 per gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices added 0.81 cent to US$1.562 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose a cent to US$5.63 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The cuts announced by Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. take 115,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Nigeria's current OPEC quota of 2.3 million barrels daily. The reduction was to begin on Sunday. Refiners often decrease their output to conduct maintenance during the slow season.
Venezuela, a major oil supplier to the U.S. and a founding member of OPEC, is already thought to be producing well below its OPEC quota _ around 2.5 million barrels a day instead of the 3.2 million barrels it reports to the cartel.
World oil prices have dropped to six-month lows recently as demand slackens with the end of summer travel in major oil consuming regions. Meanwhile, supplies are generally believed to be ample, and experts say the latest production cuts will have little impact on the fundamental supply-demand picture.
"Hawkish comments from members will only increase in frequency the lower the price goes, but in trying to gauge quota policy, the most weight should be attached to comments from Saudi Arabia," BNP Paribas said in a research note.
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