OPEC

Oil prices held above $90 a barrel, close to their highest in two years on Thursday, after cold weather boosted demand and U.S. stockpiles shrank.

Though a change of guard at the Saudi oil ministry looks more certain than otherwise, the fact that Iran will assume the revolving chairmanship of the OPEC next month can potentially impact the timing of Saudi Arabia's long-serving oil minister Ali al-Naimi's retirement.

Leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it still favored a $70-$80 price range for oil, a restatement of a two-year-old policy that will be welcomed by consumer nations worried that rising oil prices may get out of control and hamper global economic recovery.

OPEC agreed to maintain current oil production levels at its meeting on Saturday while Saudi Arabia reiterated that $70-$80 a barrel was its favored price for crude.

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that it still favored a $70-$80 range for oil, a restatement of a two-year-old policy that will relieve consumer nations worried that Riyadh might let oil prices get out of control and slow global economic recovery.

OPEC on Saturday readied an agreement to leave oil production restraints in place, despite a recent surge in crude prices to $90 a barrel.

US trade deficit declined sharply in October to reach a nine-month low as exports rose, the US commerce department said on Friday.

Crude production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped in November by around 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 29.1 million bpd, a Platts survey of oil industry officials and analysts showed on Monday.

Performance of the US dollar, Europe's periphery issues, inflation in developing world, consumption by developed ones, and of late, tensions in Korean peninsula- a lot of things are weighing on oil. The net result in recent weeks was positive for the greenback and therefore negative for oil. Still, the commodity is set to end this week with a positive note despite losing more than a dollar from its intra-week high by Friday. So, what is the trend? Where is oil heading?

Dollar, Korea, Ireland, Asian demand, inventories and technicals - a lot of things are weighing on oil now. But market participants find the question if the commodity has reached its bottom technically and on robust demand in some regions, or will a dollar rally or geopolitical developments force it break below the current range, tough to answer.

Oil rallied to its highest in more than two years on Thursday on reports that major oil consumers may use more of it next year. Oil rose despite a strong dollar on the day, which analysts largely attributed to the latest demand-supply equations of the commodity.

Goods and services trade deficit in the U.S. narrowed in the month of September from the previous month, but still remained high with China, according to a report released by the U.S. Commerce Department.

U.S. crude oil prices hovered below $75 a barrel and near six-week lows after weak U.S. economic data this week raised doubts about the top oil-consuming nation's ability to work through the most ample petroleum inventories in two decades.

Crude was steady near a six-week trough below $75 a barrel, after weak U.S. economic data signaled the world's top oil-consuming nation will struggle to work through the most ample petroleum inventories in two decades.

Demand for oil will continue to grow slowly in 2011, when world economic expansion is projected to be slightly lower than this year's, OPEC said on Friday.

South American OPEC member Venezuela will begin a widely expected $3 billion new debt issue from Monday, Economy Minister Jorge Giordani said.

Oil slipped on Friday, heading for a fourth consecutive weekly settlement within the $75-$80 range, as investors focused on a slowing economy and rising inventories in top consumer the United States. European stocks traded lower and Asian equities declined ahead of data expected to show U.S. economic growth slowed to 2.5 percent in the second quarter from 2.7 percent in the first quarter.

Oil jumped more than a dollar toward $79 on Thursday , boosted by a strong opening on Wall Street. The sudden surge was supported by news an hour earlier of a fall in new U.S. jobless claims. This proved more powerful than memories of Wednesday's oil stock figures, which had pushed oil down by showing the biggest weekly increase in crude inventories for nearly two years in the United States.

Oil slipped toward $77 per barrel on Wednesday after an industry report of an unexpected rise in U.S. crude stocks and a fall in U.S. consumer confidence fueled doubts about the pace of recovery in energy demand.

Oil fell for a second day on Wednesday toward $77 after an unexpected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles and a drop in U.S. consumer confidence fueled doubts about recovery in energy demand. U.S. crude for September fell as much as 0.8 percent to $76.88 a barrel, trading down 17 cents at $77.33 at 1:26 a.m. ET. ICE Brent slipped 3 cents to $76.10 as a recent rally in Asian stock markets lost steam.

Global oil prices remained under $77 in highly volatile Asian trade as equity markets fell across the region while concerns over potential storms on the east coast of US helped the black gold. Light sweet crude for August delivery was seen trading at $ 76.71 a barrel at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while ICE Brent for September, the front-month contract after August expired on Thursday, gained 1 cent to $76.10 on the Comex.