Oil climbed back above $60 a barrel today as OPEC moved closer to cementing a deal to cut one million barrels per day of output and after North Korea said it had conducted its first nuclear test.
US crude rose 77 cents to $60.53 a barrel by 09.40 GMT, after losing 27 cents on Friday. London Brent crude gained $1.02 to $60.85.
An OPEC source said yesterday that the group, which pumps over a third of the world's oil, was expected to make formal a one million barrels per day (bpd) cut to its official output ceiling of 28 million bpd later today.
Opec president Edmund Daukoru said at the weekend there was more or less consensus for such a cut.
Opec is due for a scheduled meeting on December 14th, but some members want to hold an emergency session this month to formalize a cut from the official ceiling. Others prefer to press on with the reduction without a face-to-face meeting.
Oil prices have halted a slide from a record-high of $78.40 in July. The market has been weighed down by US heating oil stocks at their highest level since 1999.