Oil Rises to Four-Week High Amid OPEC Output Freeze Speculation
Oil climbed to the highest close in more than four weeks amid speculation that crude producers will revive talks to stabilize prices.
Futures gained 2.8 percent in New York. Prices advanced 6.4 percent last week as Saudi Arabia signaled it’s prepared to discuss stabilizing markets at informal OPEC discussions next month. Russia is open to talks for a joint output freeze “if necessary,” Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Saudi Arabian newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. The Bloomberg Commodity Index rose the most in a month as the dollar weakened.
Oil has rebounded more than 10 percent since closing below $40 a barrel and tumbling into a bear market earlier this month. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in a statement last week that talks with members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers may result in action to stabilize the market, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
"This is a market that was looking for a reason to buy at a low price," said Sarah Emerson, managing director of ESAI Energy Inc., a consulting company in Wakefield, Massachusetts. "As we get close to $50, buying should dry up. People will wonder about the fact that nothing has been agreed to and the meeting is still in the future."
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-14/oil-extends-rise-above-44-after-biggest-weekly-gain-since-april