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weaker dollar further supported oil, with Brent crude for
December delivery up 53 cents at $47.95 a barrel by 0645 ET,
after falling more than 4 percent last week.
December U.S. crude gained 36 cents to $44.65 a barrel after
falling nearly five percent last week.
Abdullah al-Badri, Secretary-General of the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries, said he expects that the oil
market will become more balanced in 2016 as demand continues to
grow.
"We see global oil demand maintaining its recent healthy growth.
We see less non-OPEC supply. And we see an increase in the
demand for OPEC crude," he said in a speech published on the
organization's website on Monday.
Global oil demand growth is set to reach a five-year high in
2015 at 1.8 million barrels per day, but is expected to slow
down in 2016, the International Energy Agency said last month.
OPEC will meet on Dec. 4 to discuss the cartel's strategy after
last year it opted to maintain its output steady in the face of
lower prices and rising U.S. shale production.
The halving of oil prices since June 2014 continued to exert
pressure on U.S. oil producers that cut oil rigs for a tenth
week in a row last week.
Hamza Khan, commodities analyst at ING Bank in the Netherlands,
said any upside for oil is limited as oil producers around the
world struggle to sell a surplus.
"It will be very difficult to see upside traction before the
meeting in case OPEC announce they will maintain production at
current levels," he said.
"Any movements without fundamental support will be limited,
specially on the upside."
The dollar eased by about 0.27 percent versus a basket of
currencies after hitting a near seven-month high on Friday
following strong U.S. jobs data that increased the likelihood of
a rate increase by the Federal Reserve.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced assets more costly for
buyers using other currencies.
China's trade surplus rose to a record of $61.64 billion in
October, disappointing analyst expectations by a wide margin,
driving up concerns over growth in the world's top energy
consumer as the country's sector service also slowed.
"The market continues to look fragile and prone to lower
numbers," brokerage PVM said in a report.
(Additional reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Himani
Sarkar)
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