Oil prices hit a two-month high in New York this evening on falling crude stockpiles amid expectations that OPEC would decide to cut output further this week.
At one stage today, New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, jumped to a two-month peak of $48.83 a barrel. It later fell back to stand at $46.98, up $1.46 from Friday's close, as profit-taking set in.
Brent North Sea crude for April eased 22 cents to $44.63.
Analysts said prices diverged because New York prices were supported by recent falls in stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, which is the delivery point for oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Meanwhile, the OPEC cartel, which pumps 40% of the world's oil, is due to meet on Sunday for a crucial production meeting. A decision to reduce OPEC oil output is a possibility at its meeting in Vienna, Libya's envoy to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said today.
'I will not say that we are going to cut but I will not exclude it. All options are open,' Shukri Ghanem said. 'We will evaluate the world situation of the crude stocks, the price movement, the interpretation of the different countries and then we can take a decision. But we don't have a decision at this time,' he added.
OPEC slashed output late last year by 4.2 million barrels a day in a bid to reverse tumbling prices and protect its revenues. Prices are down from record highs of above $147 hit in July 2008 as a sharp world economic slowdown, sparked by the global financial crisis, has since ravaged demand.
