Oil prices rose Monday after an attack on an oil facility in Iraq and after Saudi Arabia's oil minister said OPEC might decide to cut output again when it meets next month.

Light sweet crude for January delivery rose 71 cents to $59.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude was up 27 cents to $60.30 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

A mortar attack started a huge fire Monday night at an oil facility near Kirkuk in Iraq, shutting the flow of crude oil to a major refinery. While the markets responded with a small rally, the effect of the news was minimal, according to Alaron Trading Corp. analyst Phil Flynn.

“The market already seems to have built in a premium for Iraq. Any drop of oil out of Iraq is considered gravy,” Flynn said. “The markets are still stuck in a big trading range of $55 a barrel on the downside and just above $62 on the upside pretty much since October.”

Oil prices have fallen by about 23 percent since hitting an all-time trading high above $78 a barrel in mid-July. They haven't settled above $62 a barrel since Oct. 1, despite the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' announcement in mid-October that it would reduce output by 1.2 million barrels a day.

Skepticism that OPEC members are committed to production cuts, as well as milder-than-normal U.S. temperatures this fall, have moderated prices.

London-based newspaper Al-Hayat said Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi had indicated the organization would evaluate the effect of October's decision when it meets next month in Abuja, and if necessary authorize another cut.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil gained 3.6 cents to $1.7025 per gallon, unleaded gasoline rose 1.12 cent to $1.6050 a gallon and natural gas rose 25.2 cents to $7.970 per 1,000 cubic feet.