Crude Oil Rises as OPEC Discipline Improves in November
London, Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose after the
world's top oil-exporting nations stepped up their efforts to
stick with an accord to restrain output, even as prices near a
nine-year high tempted some countries to pump more oil.
The 10 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries participating in output cuts met 90 percent of their
goal in November, up from a revised 84 percent in October, a
Bloomberg survey found. The decline was led by lower supplies
from Iran, the group's second-largest producer.
``Iran is one country people would have been watching for as
a potential cheater' on OPEC quotas, said Jack Kellet, a trader
at Credit Lyonnais Rouse Ltd., adding that the report is helping
boost prices today.
Crude oil for January settlement rose as much as 35 cents to
$24.38 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Crude
oil for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was
up 37 cents at $25.37 a barrel in electronic trading.
Oil prices have more than doubled in the past year, from a
12-year low, after 10 members of OPEC plus four other nations
promised to cut output by some 7 percent for a year starting
April 1. That higher price could have led to some countries to
pump more oil to boost their export earnings, traders said.
Production from all 11 members of OPEC totaled 26.07 million
barrels a day in November, down 370,000 barrels a day from a
revised 26.44 million barrels a day in October, according to the
survey of producers, oil companies and analysts.
The report of improved discipline among OPEC members came
after Venezuela's oil minister assured oil markets that output
cuts would remain in place until March 31, helping end a price
drop that started earlier in the week.
Prices fell early Wednesday after a report by the Reuters
news agency, citing an unidentified OPEC delegate, suggested
producers would raise output before March if prices in New York
stayed near or above $25 a barrel.
``We're all committed to the cuts until March, when they'll
be analyzed,' Venezuela's Ali Rodriguez said yesterday, after
returning from meetings with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia,
Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Algeria. ``None of those countries has
said anything to the contrary.' |
