(Bloomberg) -- Oil extended gains from the highest close in more than two years on signs OPEC will agree to extend supply cuts when ministers meet in Vienna at the end of the month.
Futures rose as much as 0.9 percent in New York and are heading for a fourth weekly advance. Iraq, the second-biggest OPEC producer, backs extending the curbs for a further nine months, Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luaibi said in Baghdad. While ministers from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said this week longer cuts are needed, a consensus on how long to prolong is yet to be decided.
Oil has advanced more than 15 percent since the beginning of September on signs that global supplies are tightening and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers may extend their output agreement past the end of March. OPEC ministers will meet in Vienna on Nov. 30.
West Texas Intermediate for December delivery climbed as much as 49 cents to $55.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $54.90 as of 8:07 a.m. in Hong Kong. Total volume traded was about 2 percent below the 100-day average. Prices on Thursday gained 24 cents to settle at $54.54, the highest since July 2015.
Brent for January settlement added as much as 31 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $60.93 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract rose 0.2 percent to $60.62 on Thursday. Front-month prices are up 0.7 percent this week. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $5.75 to January WTI.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Hong Kong at bsharples@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pratish Narayanan at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net, Ramsey Al-Rikabi, Jake Lloyd-Smith
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