OIL PRICE: NEAR $61 YET

REUTERS - Oil prices climbed by around 1 percent on Wednesday amid a stock market rebound and on expectations that an OPEC-led output cut for 2019 would stabilize the supply-demand balance.

Disruptions to Libyan crude exports after local militia seized the country's biggest oilfield, El Sharara, were also buoying prices, traders said.

International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $60.86 per barrel at 0543 GMT, up 66 cents, or 1.1 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $52.22 per barrel, up 57 cents, or 1.1 percent.

The higher prices came amid an increase in Asian share markets on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday that talks with China were taking place to defuse the trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies.

Despite Tuesday's more confident market, analysts warned of an economic slowdown.

"The global economy is set to cool in 2019-20, as rising interest rates and inflation begin to limit consumption in major developed economies, and market uncertainty weakens the fundamentals in emerging markets," the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in its latest outlook.

British bank Barclays said in its 2019 commodities outlook that "the major risk to the near-term outlook relates to a faster-than-expected deterioration in economic activity".

In oil market fundamentals, a decision by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers including Russia last week to cut supply by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) has supported prices this week.

"OPEC production curbs will stabilize the market," ANZ bank said on Wednesday.

Crude prices had lost a third of their value between early October and the announcement of the cuts. Some analysts warn, though, that the agreement may not have the effect hoped for.

Fereidun Fesharaki of energy consultancy FGE said in a note that the OPEC-led cuts would likely be "insufficient to mop up the inventories in the targeted three-month period till the end of the first quarter of 2019".

As a result, FGE said prices were "likely to hover in the $55-$60 per barrel range for Brent, with WTI sitting some $5-$10 per barrel below this given current fundamentals".

Undermining the supply cuts is soaring output in the United States, where crude production has hit a record 11.7 million bpd.

The United States is set to end 2018 as the world's top oil producer, ahead of Russia and Saudi Arabia, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) saying on Tuesday the nation's annualized average output would be 10.88 million bpd for the full year.

The 2018 output increase would be 1.53 million bpd, the EIA said, adding that it expected production to average an unprecedented 12.06 million bpd in 2019.

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Earlier: 

2018, December, 11, 14:38:10 АЛЕКСАНДР НОВАК В ИНТЕРВЬЮ CNN: “НАШИ РЕШЕНИЯ ОСНОВАНЫ НА ФУНДАМЕНТАЛЬНЫХ ФАКТОРАХ РЫНКА” МИНЭНЕРГО РОССИИ - Как отметил Александр Новак, принятое решение о снижении суммарной добычи на 1,2 млн барр./сутки отражает ожидания рынка накануне встречи стран ОПЕК и не ОПЕК. As noted by Alexander Novak, the decision to reduce the total production by 1.2 million barrels per day reflects the market expectations on the eve of the meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC countries. Русский | English

2018, December, 10, 09:00:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $62 ANEW PLATTS - At 11:00 am Singapore time (0300 GMT), ICE February Brent crude futures were up 43 cents/b (0.7%) from Friday's settle at $62.10/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract inched 2 cents/b (0.04%) lower to $52.59/b.

2018, December, 10, 08:55:00 OIL PRODUCTION DOWN 1.2 MBD OPEC - Accordingly, the 5th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting, following deliberations on the immediate oil market prospects and in view of a growing imbalance between global oil supply and demand in 2019, hereby decided to adjust the overall production by 1.2 mb/d, effective as of January 2019 for an initial period of six months. The contributions from OPEC and the voluntary contributions from non-OPEC participating countries of the ‘Declaration of Cooperation’ will correspond to 0.8 mb/d (2.5%), and 0.4 mb/d (2.0%), respectively. Русский | English

2018, December, 10, 07:55:00 АЛЕКСАНДР НОВАК: “МЫ ПРИВЕРЖЕНЫ ДОГОВОРЕННОСТЯМ, И РЫНОК ЭТО ЦЕНИТ” “Было принято решение с 1 января сократить суммарно добычу на 1,2 млн барр в сутки, из них 800 тыс. возьмут на себя страны ОПЕК. Россия также примет участие в этом. Для нас это означает, что по отношению к октябрю 2018 года мы должны будем сократить производство на 2% или 220 тыс баррелей, это будет происходить постепенно”, - подчеркнул Министр.

2018, December, 10, 07:50:00 ALEXANDER NOVAK: “THE COOPERATION OF OPEC COUNTRIES + MUST CONTINUE” Министр энергетики Российской Федерации Александр Новак в интервью телеканалу “Bloomberg”, которое состоялось по окончании 5-й Министерской встречи стран ОПЕК и не входящих в ОПЕК государств, рассказал о принятых решениях и их влиянии на рынок, разговоре с Министром нефти Ирана Бижаном Намдар Зангане накануне заседания, а также поделился прогнозами цен на нефть в будущем. Русский | English

2018, December, 7, 08:35:00 OIL PRICE: NEAR $60 YET REUTERS - International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 fell below $60 per barrel early in the session, trading at $59.50 per barrel at 0144 GMT, down 56 cents, or 0.9 percent from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $51.24 per barrel, down 25 cents, or 0.5 percent.

2018, December, 7, 08:30:00 RUSSIA - SAUDIS PACT WSJ - Russia and Saudi Arabia have agreed to extend OPEC’s efforts to stabilize oil markets, Russian President Vladimir Putin said over the weekend, as the broader coalition of producers inches closer to a deal this week.