OPEC

Oil rose toward $80 a barrel in thin holiday trade on Thursday, poised for the biggest annual climb in a decade, a year after posting huge falls as the global economic crisis sapped demand.

Oil rose on Wednesday for a sixth day as a mix of cold weather and declining U.S. crude and fuel inventories lifted prices to near $80, all but ensuring this year's gain will be the best in a decade for crude.

Saudi Arabia has quit a long-held lease for 5 million barrels of Caribbean oil storage near the key U.S. market and state giant PetroChina is poised to move in, industry sources say, a potentially major shift in global oil trade dynamics.

As 2009 draws to a close and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) prepares to meet again at the end of the month, it faces a global oil market that has firmed up in response to production cuts that began to take effect in January 2009.

OPEC agreed on Tuesday to keep supply curbs unchanged but faces a battle to crack down on those in its ranks who are failing to comply with quota restrictions if it wants to drain bulging global fuel inventories.

OPEC agreed on Tuesday to keep supply curbs unchanged but faces an uphill battle to crack down on those in its ranks failing to comply with quota restrictions if it wants to drain bulging global fuel inventories.

OPEC agreed on Tuesday to keep supply curbs unchanged but faces an uphill battle to improve compliance with self-imposed quota restrictions if it wants to drain bulging global fuel inventories.

Oil held steady on Tuesday ahead of an OPEC meeting, with the firmer dollar countering an expected fall in crude and distillate inventories in the United States along with the sustained strong demand in China.

OPEC producers are set to leave output limits unchanged at a meeting in Angola on Tuesday, officials from the cartel said, but look likely to call for improved compliance with existing curbs.

Oil held firm above $73 a barrel on Monday after a 1 percent rise in the previous session as Iranian troops partly withdrew from a disputed oil area in Iraq, reducing tensions between two major crude exporters.

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OPEC would leave output targets unchanged when it meets this week in Luanda, ministers said on Sunday, as robust oil prices offset concerns in the group about excess supplies.

OPEC will almost certainly leave output targets unchanged when it meets this week in Luanda, ministers said on Sunday, as robust oil prices offset any concerns in the group about excess supplies.

OPEC will keep supply unchanged when it meets on Tuesday in Angola, Algeria's Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said on Sunday.

Carbon taxes discriminate against energy producing states so OPEC members oppose them, Algeria's energy minister said, adding his country was wary of European plans for huge solar power investment in North Africa.

Oil prices rose above $70 a barrel on Tuesday, snapping their longest losing streak since 2001, as traders bet that government data will show U.S. crude inventories fell last week and colder-than-normal weather will boost demand for heating oil.

Oil fell toward $74 a barrel on Monday as low demand for crude oil in the wake of the economic downturn continued to pressure prices, outweighing last week's strong U.S. job report.

Oil prices fell nearly $1 to below $76 a barrel on Friday, pressured by a stronger dollar which outweighed better-than-expected U.S. jobs data.

Oil prices fell for a third consecutive day on Friday, to below $76 a barrel, under pressure from high levels of inventories and nervousness ahead of the latest employment data from the world's top energy consumer, the United States.

Growing world oil use will likely outpace the rate of new supplies in 2010, eroding the huge stockpiles of crude which have mounted around the world since the start of the global economic crisis.

Oil prices clawed back some of last week's 1.4 percent losses on Monday and rose a dollar to above $77 a barrel, as a weaker U.S. dollar and improved sentiments over the economic outlook encouraged traders to push up crude prices.