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Oil rallies on upbeat OPEC demand growth outlook

In a list of official prices sent to customers, state-oil company Saudi Aramco cut the price of its light-crude deliveries to Asia by $1.7 a barrel.

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In the long-term, there was a risk that lower levels of oil production in countries outside of OPEC and the US could result in an increase in oil prices, van Beurden said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced on Tuesday that crude output would decline through mid-2016.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November, the global benchmark, closed at $51.33 a barrel in London, down 59 cents from Tuesday s settlement.

Ang expects Iranian oil “to cause a one million barrel per day surplus of supply when Iran reaches maximum capacity and this would likely be the key topic of any meeting”.

Traders said Brent saw technical buying at above $50 as it headed for its first three-day gain in a stretch after Monday’s rise of more than 2 percent and Friday’s climb of almost 1 percent.

This was in line with comments made by OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri at a conference in London that OPEC and non-OPEC members should work together to reduce the global supply glut.

In a contango market, prompt prices are lower than those in future months, indicating weak spot demand.

Investors were awaiting further signals from USA government data on crude inventories this week.

Gasoline supplies also rose, but stockpiles of distillates, including heating oil and diesel fuel, fell.

Badri also appeared to offer a few comfort to those OPEC members which have been unhappy about the group’s current laissez-faire strategy of allowing prices to fall to levels that will force high-cost non-OPEC production out of the market. Fewer rigs translate to less oil on the market, thus leading to higher prices. A few analysts are predicting the data will show further builds in crude stocks, putting oil prices under renewed pressure.

Many OPEC ministers have had talks with the Russians over the past year about the global oversupply and while Russia was supportive of the situation, it has failed to take action to cut production.

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Demand for oil is expected to go up to 270,00 bpd or to 95.2 million barrels every day, which is up 0.3% from last month’s forecast.

Crude Oil4 Mounting Oil transaction in advance of EIA’s weekly crude oil catalogue statistics