Crude oil rose on speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, producer of 40 percent of the world's oil, may agree this week to cut output to prop up prices.
There is ``general support'' among OPEC members to reduce supply, OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said today in an interview in Abuja, Nigeria, where the group will meet Dec. 14. A price of $60 a barrel for U.S. benchmark crude, called West Texas Intermediate, is ``low,'' he said.
``Prices could sell off sharply after the meeting'' if the group fails to agree on an additional supply cut, Edward Meir, an analyst at Man Financial Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut, wrote in a report. ``The cartel has not only come up short in November, but its failure to trim again will not sit well with the markets.''
Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 41 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $61.63 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contact traded at $61.50 at 2:47 p.m. in London. Brent crude oil advanced 22 cents to $62.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Brent has declined every day since Dec. 1.
OPEC should cut production again because of an oversupply of crude, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said on Shana, the oil ministry's news agency. Iran is the 11-member group's second-largest producer.
Oil analysts and traders have been questioning OPEC's compliance with a previous cut. The group agreed to reduce daily production by 1.2 million barrels starting Nov. 1, citing rising stockpiles and slower than forecast demand growth. OPEC managed to reduce output by 550,000 barrels in November, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
Kuwait Satisfied
Most OPEC nations are satisfied with a price of about $60 a barrel, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali Jarrah al-Sabah said today, according to state-run Kuwait News Agency.
The group may see less need to cut output with prices above $60 a barrel, Maizar Rahman, the OPEC governor of Indonesia, said in Abuja. ``There are surplus amounts'' of crude oil stockpiles, he said.
OPEC's basket price, a weighted average of 11 blends produced by OPEC nations, fell 89 cents to $57.74 a barrel yesterday.
Crude oil has fallen about 2.5 percent this month as analysts and traders said they expect U.S. fuel inventories to meet demand for heating amid signs of mild weather.
Temperatures in the U.S. northeast, where 80 percent of U.S. heating oil is burned, will be above average from Dec. 17 through Dec. 25, the National Weather Service said yesterday.
U.S. distillate supplies probably gained 650,000 barrels last week, based on the median estimate from the Bloomberg News survey of six analysts. Stockpiles held 132.4 million barrels on Dec. 1, 0.9 percent more than the five-year average for the period.
Heating demand in the U.S. northeast will be 37 percent below normal through Dec. 18, Belton, Missouri-based forecaster Weather Derivatives said yesterday.
Crude oil inventories, already 14 percent above the five-year average, probably declined by 1.4 million barrels, based on the survey. Stockpiles held 339.7 million barrels on Dec. 1.
There is ``general support'' among OPEC members to reduce supply, OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said today in an interview in Abuja, Nigeria, where the group will meet Dec. 14. A price of $60 a barrel for U.S. benchmark crude, called West Texas Intermediate, is ``low,'' he said.
``Prices could sell off sharply after the meeting'' if the group fails to agree on an additional supply cut, Edward Meir, an analyst at Man Financial Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut, wrote in a report. ``The cartel has not only come up short in November, but its failure to trim again will not sit well with the markets.''
Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 41 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $61.63 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contact traded at $61.50 at 2:47 p.m. in London. Brent crude oil advanced 22 cents to $62.06 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. Brent has declined every day since Dec. 1.
OPEC should cut production again because of an oversupply of crude, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said on Shana, the oil ministry's news agency. Iran is the 11-member group's second-largest producer.
Oil analysts and traders have been questioning OPEC's compliance with a previous cut. The group agreed to reduce daily production by 1.2 million barrels starting Nov. 1, citing rising stockpiles and slower than forecast demand growth. OPEC managed to reduce output by 550,000 barrels in November, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
Kuwait Satisfied
Most OPEC nations are satisfied with a price of about $60 a barrel, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ali Jarrah al-Sabah said today, according to state-run Kuwait News Agency.
The group may see less need to cut output with prices above $60 a barrel, Maizar Rahman, the OPEC governor of Indonesia, said in Abuja. ``There are surplus amounts'' of crude oil stockpiles, he said.
OPEC's basket price, a weighted average of 11 blends produced by OPEC nations, fell 89 cents to $57.74 a barrel yesterday.
Crude oil has fallen about 2.5 percent this month as analysts and traders said they expect U.S. fuel inventories to meet demand for heating amid signs of mild weather.
Temperatures in the U.S. northeast, where 80 percent of U.S. heating oil is burned, will be above average from Dec. 17 through Dec. 25, the National Weather Service said yesterday.
U.S. distillate supplies probably gained 650,000 barrels last week, based on the median estimate from the Bloomberg News survey of six analysts. Stockpiles held 132.4 million barrels on Dec. 1, 0.9 percent more than the five-year average for the period.
Heating demand in the U.S. northeast will be 37 percent below normal through Dec. 18, Belton, Missouri-based forecaster Weather Derivatives said yesterday.
Crude oil inventories, already 14 percent above the five-year average, probably declined by 1.4 million barrels, based on the survey. Stockpiles held 339.7 million barrels on Dec. 1.
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