OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $53

REUTERS , BLOOMBERG ,  OILPRICE - Oil prices edged up on Monday after the Saudi oil minister discussed possibly extending a pact to cut global oil supplies beyond March 2018 with his Venezuelan and Kazakh counterparts.

News of the talks on Sunday helped offset downward pressure on oil prices amid worries that energy demand would be hit hard by Hurricane Irma and its aftermath.

The hurricane knocked out power to nearly 4 million homes and businesses in Florida on Sunday. It is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm over northern Florida or southern Georgia later on Monday.

U.S. crude for October delivery CLc1 was up 41 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $47.89 a barrel by 0648 GMT, having tumbled 3.3 percent on Friday.

London Brent crude for November delivery LCOc1 was up 30 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $54.08, having settled down 1.3 percent.

"The oil market reacted to the Saudi talks," said Tomomichi Akuta, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting in Tokyo. "The drop in U.S. oil refining is also to be offset by higher processing at other nations, so worries over a substantial cut in crude oil demand are fading."

Hurricane Harvey - which hit two weeks ago - pushed the U.S. refinery use rate to a seven-year low, but largely spared oil and petrochemical plants along the U.S. Gulf Coast from significant damage. Some units are now restarting after shutdowns ahead of or during the earlier storm.

Motiva Enterprises was starting up the large crude unit - a little more than 50 percent of capacity - at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Sunday, according to a source familiar with plant operations.

OPEC and other producers, including Russia, have agreed to reduce crude output by about 1.8 million barrels per day through the end of next March in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.

The Saudi energy ministry said Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih agreed with his Kazakh counterpart that the option to extend the rebalancing effort would be considered in due course.

Elsewhere, Iran will reach an oil production rate of 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) within five years, a senior Iranian industry official said on Sunday. Iran has been producing around 3.8 million bpd in recent months.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday also suspended any dialogue with Qatar, accusing it of "distorting facts", just after a report of a phone call between the leaders of the two countries suggested a breakthrough in the dispute that also involves the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain.

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Earlier:

September, 8, 09:10:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $54 U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $49.12 barrel at 0146 GMT, 4 cents below their last settlement, but not far off more than three-week highs reached in the previous session. Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the United States, dipped 8 cents to $54.12 a barrel, though still not far from May highs reached the previous day. Русский | English

September, 8, 08:30:00 ЦЕНА URALS: $50,09 Средняя цена нефти марки Urals по итогам января-августа 2017 года составила $50,09 за баррель. Русский

September, 6, 18:20:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $53 Brent LCOc1 had gained 51 cents to $53.89 a barrel by 1356 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures Clc1 were up 45 cents at $49.54 a barrel. Русский | English

September, 4, 12:40:00 OIL PRICE: NOT BELOW $ 52 Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, had fallen by almost 1 percent from their last close, or 41 cents, to $52.34 per barrel by 0655 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Clc1 crude futures were more stable, at $47.30 barrel, close to their last settlement. Русский | English

September, 4, 12:25:00 NIGERIA'S OIL PRODUCTION: 2.2 MBD The figure of around 2.2 million to 2.3 million b/d includes about 300,000 to 400,000 b/d of condensates, which implies that its current crude oil production is at the coveted 1.8 million b/d mark. English

August, 31, 12:30:00 OIL PRICE: NOT ABOVE $51 The October light, sweet crude contract on NYMEX fell 13¢ on Aug. 29 to settle at $46.44/bbl while the November contract was up 4¢ to settle at $47/bbl. The NYMEX natural gas price for September gained 3.6¢ to a rounded $2.96/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was $2.88/MMbtu, down 4¢. The Brent crude contract for October on London’s ICE was up 11¢ to $52/bbl. The November contract gained 24¢ to $51.66/bbl. The September gas oil contract was $484.50/tonne on Aug. 29, up 25¢. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ basket of crudes on Aug. 29 was $49.51/bbl, down 35¢. Русский | English

August, 31, 12:25:00 SAUDIS - RUSSIA OIL DEAL Top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia are pushing to extend their deal to limit crude oil production for another three months, which would leave the output deal between OPEC and non-OPEC producers in place through the end of June, people familiar with the matter said. English