World oil prices higher after OPEC refuses to rule out more cuts

SINGAPORE: World oil prices were higher in Asian trade Monday after OPEC refused to rule out further output cuts, dealers said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery advanced 2.80 dollars to 63.84 dollars.

Brent North Sea crude for December delivery rose 2.72 dollars to 60.07 dollars.

OPEC president Chakib Khelil indicated over the weekend another round of production cuts may be on the cards if oil prices remained below the cartel's preferred range of 70 to 90 dollars a barrel.

"We have always said that our objective is 70 to 90 dollars a barrel," Khelil, who is also Algeria's energy minister, said Saturday at an energy industry seminar in Algiers.

"If the barrel price does not reach this level, there will probably be another (production) cutback," he said, adding however that there must be consensus among all OPEC nations, "and everyone has their own interests."

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps 40 percent of the world's crude, announced in October in an emergency meeting its daily output will be cut by 1.5 million barrels to 27.3 million barrels from November onwards.

The production cuts were aimed at shoring up prices which had fallen sharply from record peaks of above 147 dollars in July on growing fears energy demand would be hit by slowing economic growth.

OPEC's next meeting is scheduled to take place in Oran, Algeria, on December 17.

Before that, OPEC's Arab members will meet in Cairo on November 29, said Khelil.