Oil prices rise despite low demand concerns

Oil prices rose on Monday but further gains may be capped by worries about low energy demand in the United States, the world's biggest energy consuming nation, traders said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, rose 70 cents to 68.72 dollars a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for October climbed 86 cents to 67.68 dollars.

The United States, in recession since December 2007, is seen as key to lifting global oil demand, which has been hit by the worldwide economic slump.

Meanwhile, analysts expect OPEC to stick to its oil production quotas when oil ministers from the cartel meet on Wednesday in Vienna. OPEC, whose 12 members pump 40 percent of the world's oil, agreed in 2008 to remove 4.2 million barrels of daily output from the market as it sought to prop up crumbling prices but some countries are believed to have been producing above quota.

Analyst Frederic Lasserre at French bank Societe Generale said there was little pressure for change, with current prices acceptable to most producers and consumers given uncertainty about when demand will pick up again.

"At 70 dollars there is no pressure to lower production. Everyone is earning well. There is no pressure to lift production either," Lasserre said. "Demand has not really recovered," including in the key energy-hungry Chinese market, he added.