OPEC nears deal Controlling output to push up prices Crude appears to be rebounding as OPEC nears a deal on output for oil-producing countries. Oil surged for a third day on signs the members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have made progress toward finalising a deal to cut output.January futures rose as much as 1.5% in New York after the December contract expired 3.9% higher on Monday.
Talks on assigning quotas to individual countries went well, Libyan OPEC Governor Mohamed Oun said after preliminary meetings at the group''s headquarters in Vienna.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it''s now “tactically bullish” on the likelihood of an agreement. US government data on Wednesday is forecast to show the smallest expansion of crude stockpiles since January, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Oil has rebounded from an eight-week low on 14 November as OPEC make renewed diplomatic efforts before their 30 November meeting to finalise the supply deal they agreed to informally in September.
The group''s plan to trim output for the first time in eight years is complicated by Iran''s commitment to boost production and Iraq''s request for an exemption to help fund its war with Islamic militants.
“An OPEC deal would push oil through US$50,” said Evan Lucas, a market strategist at IG in Melbourne. “If it''s a verbal agreement with all non-binding overlays, the market will get positive very quickly. It could then fall back to a band of US$45 to US$46 a barrel.”
FIN24