Oil prices jumped 4 percent to nearly $62 on Wednesday following a sharp drop in U.S. crude stockpiles last week and as members of producer group OPEC enforced output cuts.
In electronic trading, U.S. light crude
London Brent
U.S. government data showed crude stocks in the world's top oil consumer fell 3.3 million barrels last week after bad weather shut the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the nation's largest oil import terminal, for three days last week.
The closure contributed to a steep drop in imports and countered analyst expectations that crude inventories had risen by 2.6 million barrels last week.
Distillate and gasoline stocks were also lower.
Adding support to prices, OPEC members are showing signs of enforcing a 1.2 million barrel per day production cut agreed last week at an emergency meeting in Qatar.
An Iranian official on Wednesday said Iran had informed customers it was cutting supplies by 176,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November.
U.S. crude had already risen 54 cents on Tuesday after Abu Dhabi's state oil firm told major customers it would cut crude exports by about 5 percent in November.
Leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia is shouldering the greatest part of the cut and told clients earlier this week it would reduce November supplies.
OPEC DETERMINATION
A Nigerian official said its national oil company would maintain a 5 percent output cut in November after a voluntary 5 percent cut to October supplies.
Nigeria's production has also been disrupted by militant attacks and on Wednesday oil company sources said villagers had invaded four pumping stations in Nigeria's southern Delta.
Doubts OPEC would abide by its agreement helped to push U.S. crude down to $56.55 a barrel last week, the lowest level this year.
Some analysts still say OPEC has yet to prove its determination, but others said the producer group had gained experience in how to stave off any price collapse that it would now put to good use.
"They have learned a considerable amount in the last few years about micro-managing the market," said John Waterlow of Wood Mackenzie consultancy.
OPEC's success in shoring up the market could also depend on the weather.
Temperatures in the U.S. Northeast, the biggest oil consuming region in the world, will be colder than usual and higher heating demand was expected over the next five days, U.S. based private forecaster Meteorlogix said on Tuesday.
Private WSI Corp on Monday predicted warmer-than-normal Northeast temperatures in November, but said they would be followed by cooler weather in December and January.
