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International benchmark Brent crude oil futures <LCOc1> rose 23
cents to $52.18 per barrel at 1151 GMT (0751 EDT), after falling
to as low as $51.56 a barrel earlier.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were
trading at $50.46 per barrel, up 11 cents from their last
settlement, after hitting a session low of $49.94 a barrel.
Analysts said that the market is fundamentally supported by
expectations that members of the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) would take action to support prices
at their meeting in Vienna on November 30.
"It's very hard for the Brent crude price to sell below the $50
a barrel mark ahead of the November 30 meeting," said Bjarne
Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB.
He said that OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia sent a very clear
statement about working to curb production and support higher
prices, but added that an oversupplied physical crude market was
capping further gains in prices.
"Record supply from OPEC year-to-date, weaker global GDP
estimates, and still elevated inventories cause us to lower and
flatten our oil price outlook," Bernstein Energy said in a note.
OPEC pumped a record 33.6 million barrels of crude oil per day
in September, with some members signaling they plan further
increases.
Nigeria expects its crude output to rise 22 percent to 2.2
million bpd by the end of December, oil minister Emmanuel Ibe
Kachikwu said. And Libya's output has been steadily rising,
hitting 551,000 bpd last week.
Traders said that WTI was under pressure from a report on Friday
by oil services provider Baker Hughes showed U.S. drillers added
four rigs in the week to Oct. 14. It was the 16th week in a row
that oil drillers had gone without making cuts, indicating more
production to come. [RIG/U]
A firmer dollar weighed on prices earlier in the day, as an
expected hike in U.S. interest rates later this year drove the
U.S. currency to a seven-month high against a basket of
currencies <.DXY>.
Dollar-traded oil becomes more expensive for holders of other
currencies when the greenback strengthens, potentially limiting
demand.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore, editing
by William Hardy and Adrian Croft)
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