Oil prices edged higher Tuesday as traders weighed forecasts calling for mild U.S. weather next week against anticipated further production cuts by OPEC.
Light sweet crude for January delivery rose 21 cents to $62.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. January Brent crude at London's ICE Futures exchange was up 40 cents at $63.85 a barrel.
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Department released its annual long-term world energy forecast. The agency predicted that the price of oil, when adjusted for inflation, would decline between 2007 and 2015 as investments made in recent years of historically high prices bring new supplies to the market.
After that, the Energy Department said it expects prices to resume an upward trend, bringing average real prices (in 2005 dollars) by 2030 to more than $59 a barrel. In nominal terms, that would be equivalent to about $95 a barrel. The agency said it expects OPEC to adjust its output over the next 25 years to try to keep average prices between $50 and $60 _ a range it is already trying to achieve.
In the very short-term, energy analyst Victor Shum said he expects the oil market to strengthen further as demand increases during the Northern Hemisphere winter. He predicted that $60 a barrel was the new price floor.
"In the short-term future, what's still going to move the market is the weather," said Shum, of Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
At the moment, however, the U.S. autumn has been marked by relatively mild weather. Nymex natural gas fugures fell 7 cents to $7.73 per 1,000 cubic feet, while heating oil futures were steady at $1.809 a gallon. Unleaded gasoline futures were flat at $1.6674 per gallon.
Recent comments from key members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries suggest the cartel will push for further cuts in output when it meets Dec. 14 in Nigeria.
Recent data from the International Energy Agency showed stocks held among the 30 members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development at the end of September at 2.76 billion barrels, the highest level in almost eight years and 4.5 percent higher than a year ago.
This means OECD members have 55 days' worth of oil consumption in stock, a significant two days more than a year ago.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi has said OPEC needs to take 100 million barrels out of the market to balance it. Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheik Ali Al Jarrah Al Sabah, who was also at a meeting of Arab oil producers in Cairo, agreed.
The figure is close to what the IEA estimates is the stock build in the third quarter of this year _ the highest for the period in 14 years _ and it equates to more than 1 million barrels a day.
Light sweet crude for January delivery rose 21 cents to $62.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. January Brent crude at London's ICE Futures exchange was up 40 cents at $63.85 a barrel.
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Department released its annual long-term world energy forecast. The agency predicted that the price of oil, when adjusted for inflation, would decline between 2007 and 2015 as investments made in recent years of historically high prices bring new supplies to the market.
After that, the Energy Department said it expects prices to resume an upward trend, bringing average real prices (in 2005 dollars) by 2030 to more than $59 a barrel. In nominal terms, that would be equivalent to about $95 a barrel. The agency said it expects OPEC to adjust its output over the next 25 years to try to keep average prices between $50 and $60 _ a range it is already trying to achieve.
In the very short-term, energy analyst Victor Shum said he expects the oil market to strengthen further as demand increases during the Northern Hemisphere winter. He predicted that $60 a barrel was the new price floor.
"In the short-term future, what's still going to move the market is the weather," said Shum, of Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
At the moment, however, the U.S. autumn has been marked by relatively mild weather. Nymex natural gas fugures fell 7 cents to $7.73 per 1,000 cubic feet, while heating oil futures were steady at $1.809 a gallon. Unleaded gasoline futures were flat at $1.6674 per gallon.
Recent comments from key members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries suggest the cartel will push for further cuts in output when it meets Dec. 14 in Nigeria.
Recent data from the International Energy Agency showed stocks held among the 30 members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development at the end of September at 2.76 billion barrels, the highest level in almost eight years and 4.5 percent higher than a year ago.
This means OECD members have 55 days' worth of oil consumption in stock, a significant two days more than a year ago.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi has said OPEC needs to take 100 million barrels out of the market to balance it. Kuwait's Oil Minister Sheik Ali Al Jarrah Al Sabah, who was also at a meeting of Arab oil producers in Cairo, agreed.
The figure is close to what the IEA estimates is the stock build in the third quarter of this year _ the highest for the period in 14 years _ and it equates to more than 1 million barrels a day.
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