Oil steady near two-week high as Saudi to keep export curbs

TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices held little changed near two-week highs early on Monday, supported by comments from Saudi Arabia that it would continue to curb exports in line with the OPEC-led effort to cut global supplies.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up 2 cents at $63.57 a barrel by 2340 GMT, after rising 3 percent last week.

London eased 4 cents to $67.27, after gaining nearly 4 percent last week.

Saudi Arabia hopes OPEC and its allies will be able to relax production curbs next year and create a permanent framework to stabilize oil markets after the current supply cut deal ends this year, its oil minister said on Saturday in New Delhi.

In January-March, Saudi Arabia’s oil production would be well below the production cap, with exports averaging below 7 million barrels per day (bpd), Saudi Arabian oil minister Khalid al-Falih said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers including Russia have been cutting output to support oil prices.

U.S. energy companies last week added one oil rig, the fifth weekly increase in a row, bringing the total count up to 799, the highest level since April 2015, Baker Hughes energy services firm said on Friday.

Hedge funds and money managers upped their bullish wagers on oil for the first time in four weeks, data showed on Friday.

Libya’s National Oil Corp said on Saturday it had declared force majeure on the 70,000 bpd El Feel oilfield after a protest by guards closed the field.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.