Saudi Arabia and OPEC in focus

Oil prices rose about 1% on Monday after Saudi Arabia, the main exporter, announced a cut in its offer for December, seen as a way to end the market slump that had saw the crude decrease by 20% since early October.

Brent crude futures were trading at $ 71.11 per barrel at 00:51 GMT, up 93 cents or 1.3% from their last close.

WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude futures were $ 60.73 per barrel, up 54 cents or 0.9% from their latest settlement.

Saudi Arabia plans to cut its supply of oil by 0.5 million barrels a day in December, its energy minister said Sunday, while OPEC has uncertain prospects in trying to persuade other producers to agree on a coordinated reduction of its production.

Khalid al-Falih told reporters that Saudi Aramco's crude oil customer appointments would be reduced by 500,000 bpd in December compared to November due to the drop in seasonal demand. The reduction represents a reduction in global oil supply of about 0.5%.

This announcement comes after the drop in crude prices of about 20% over a month, due to the sharp increase in supply, especially from the three largest producers, namely the United States, the United States. Russia and Saudi Arabia.

"Saudi Arabia has taken the lead in the oil market by proactively announcing that they will reduce exports," said Stephen Innes, trade manager for Asia / Pacific at Oanda, a broker in futures contracts.

Increased US production is a major concern for Saudi Arabia and other traditional producers in the Middle East dominated by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

US energy companies added 12 oil rigs last week to November 9, looking for new reserves, bringing the total to 886, the highest level since March 2015, energy services firm Baker announced on Friday. Hughes.

The number of rigs is an indicator that production of US crude oil, which already reaches a record 11.6 million barrels per day (bpd), will increase further.

"One thing is quite clear, OPEC is about to shake shale as US crude production rises to a record 11.6 million barrels a day and will cross the 12 million mark next year, "Innes said.