Crude prices were seen rising on Monday amid speculations that Iran will seek an output trim at the upcoming OPEC meeting in Vienna later this week.
Futures for the North American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 0.48% to $76.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. While the European benchmark Brent crude for January settlement traded 0.56% higher to $80.81 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange based in London.
Oil futures are trading in a bear market as US increased output to the highest in 30 years amid signs of lower demand.
The group’s main producers such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have resisted to calls to cut crude output and offered discounted prices instead. Other countries including Ecuador, Venezuela and Libya raised concerns and called for action to support the commodity’s prices.
Meanwhile in China, the world’s second largest oil consumer, the nation’s central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates on Friday. The move is expected to support crude demand.
Free Reports:
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) lowered the one-year lending rate by 0.4% percentage point to 5.6%, while the one-year deposit rate was lowered by 25 basis points to 2.75%.
As members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries head to Vienna for its upcoming meeting, over the weekend, Iran said that its oil production would likely be reduced by 1 million barrels a day.
Other members are forecasting output to reduce between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day in 2015.
The 12-member group, which supplies approximately 40% of the world’s oil, pumped 30.47 million barrels a day in October, according to analyst.
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