Oil prices held around a one-week low on Monday ahead of a joint OPEC and non-OPEC meeting later in the day that may address rising output in Nigeria and Libya.
London Brent crude for September delivery was up 2 cents at $48.08 a barrel by 0551 GMT. The contract settled down $1.24, or 2.5 percent, on Friday after a consultancy forecast a rise in OPEC production for July.
NYMEX crude for September delivery was unchanged at at $45.77.
Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other non-OPEC producers will meet in the Russian city of St Petersburg on Monday to review market conditions and examine any proposals related to their pact to cut output.
Sources familiar with the talks said the meeting may recommend a conditional cap on production from Nigeria and Libya – two OPEC members so far exempt from output cuts – although some analysts were deeply skeptical the group would make such a move.
“Output cuts by Libya and Nigeria would be next to impossible considering Libya was just re-emerging from the civil war, for example,” said Kaname Gokon, strategist for commodities brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo.
OPEC and some non-OPEC states including Russia agreed last year to cut production by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in a deal that has been extended to March 2018.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Libya and Nigeria should cap output when their output stabilizes, the Financial Times reported. (Reuters)
