Oil trading around $69, OPEC signals no oil output cut

Oil prices fell to near $69 a barrel in trading on Monday in Asia amid signs OPEC doesn’t plan to cut crude output when it meets next week.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 56 cents at $69.31 at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the NYMEX after falling as low as $68.59. On Friday, the contract gave up 67 cents to settle at $69.87, while in London, Brent crude oil futures for January delivery dropped 16 cents to $71.72 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Kuwait’s oil minister Sheik Ahmed al-Abdullah al-Sabah told state news agency KUNA on Sunday that the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries probably won’t change its production levels at its next meeting in Angola on Dec. 22.

Oil prices have slid from $82 in October on investor concern crude demand in the U.S. isn’t rebounding despite an overall economic recovery. A strengthening US dollar is also helping to push crude oil prices down. Investors often buy crude as a hedge against inflation if the dollar weakens, and sell when the dollar is stronger.

“A further weakening in the euro to the $1.44 to $1.45 area is likely and such a development could contribute to some further slippage of at least $1 to $2 per barrel,” Galena Illinois-based Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.

Tags:  oil prices, oil trading, OPEC, US dollar