OIL PRICE: ABOVE $64 YET

REUTERS - Oil prices rose early on Monday ahead of a meeting between OPEC and U.S. shale firms in Houston, raising expectations that oil producers would discuss further how to clear a global oil glut.

International benchmark Brent crude was up 44 cents, or 0.68 percent, at $64.81 a barrel by 0135 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 41 cents, or 0.67 percent, to $61.66 per barrel.

Oil ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other global oil players are set to gather in Houston as CERAWeek, the largest energy industry conference, begins on Monday.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo and other OPEC officials are expected to hold a dinner on Monday with U.S. shale firms on the sidelines of the conference.

"OPEC and Non-OPEC alliance remain at record high compliance, but with Russia continually pressuring for an exit strategy, OPEC will look to offer an olive branch to U.S. shale," said Stephen Innes, head of trading for the Asia-Pacific region at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore.

"As such, we should interpret any positive developments from the meeting as support for underlying oil price sentiment."

Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouel, the United Arab Emirates oil minister and OPEC's current president, said on Sunday that the oil cartel has not discussed rolling over production cuts until next year.

Rising U.S. shale oil production has been a drag on the OPEC's commitment to erode a prolonged global oil glut and prop up prices.

U.S. crude oil production has already risen past that of top exporter Saudi Arabia, to 10.28 million barrels per day (bpd).

Only Russia pumps slightly more, but the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week it expects the United States to take Russia's seat as the world's biggest crude oil producer by 2019, at the latest.

The number of oil rigs drilling for new production in the United States [RIG/U] rose to 800 for the first time since April 2015 in early March, pointing to more increases in output to come.

Speculators raised their bullish bets on U.S. crude futures and options in the week to Feb. 27 for the second consecutive week, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.

Money managers also upped their bullish bets on Brent crude, InterContinental Exchange (ICE) data showed.

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Earlier: 

2018, March, 4, 11:30:00 ЦЕНА URALS: $ 65,99 МИНФИН РОССИИ - Средняя цена нефти марки Urals по итогам января – февраля 2018 года составила $ 65,99 за баррель.

2018, February, 27, 14:15:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $67 AGAIN REUTERS - U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for April delivery CLc1 was down 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $63.78 a barrel by 0753 GMT. The contract on Monday rose to its highest since Feb. 6 at $64.24. Brent crude LCOc1 in London was down 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $67.38 a barrel. Русский | English

2018, February, 16, 23:45:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $64 AGAIN REUTERS - NYMEX crude for March delivery CLc1 was up 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $61.51 a barrel by 0750 GMT, after earlier touching a one-week high of $61.82. For the week, the contract has risen about 4 percent after losing nearly 10 percent last week. London Brent crude LCOc1 was up 25 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $64.58 after settling down 3 cents. Brent is up nearly 3 percent for the week after falling more than 8 percent last week.

2018, February, 14, 10:05:00 IEA: OIL DEMAND GROWTH 1.6 MBD IEA - Our demand growth estimate for 2017 remains strong at 1.6 mb/d, reinforced by November data for the US. For 2018, the more positive global economic picture published by the International Monetary Fund is a key factor in raising our growth outlook to 1.4 mb/d. It was thought that the significant increase in the dollar price of crude oil since the middle of 2017 would dampen growth, and this might be the case to some extent, but the impact of higher prices has been partly offset in some countries by currency appreciations.

2018, February, 14, 10:00:00 OPEC'S OIL DEMAND: 32.86 MBD PLATTS - As a result, demand for OPEC crude will average 32.86 million b/d in 2018, the organization calculated.

2018, February, 9, 11:10:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $64 REUTERS - Brent futures were down 44 cents or 0.7 percent, at $64.37 a barrel by around 0700 GMT. On Thursday, Brent fell 1.1 percent to its lowest close since Dec. 20. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 62 cents, or 1 percent, at $60.53 a barrel, having settled down 1 percent in the previous session at its lowest close since Jan. 2. Русский | English

2018, February, 12, 07:40:00 OIL PRICE: ABOVE $63 REUTERS - Brent crude futures were at $63.42 per barrel at 0250 GMT, up 63 cents, or 1 percent, from the previous close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $59.83 a barrel. That was up 63 cents, or 1.1 percent, from their last settlement.