Vienna – Oil prices fell in sluggish trading Monday amid mixed signals from OPEC officials about the possibility of production cuts when the organization meets this week.
Forecasts of warmer U.S. weather also depressed prices.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 81 cents to settle at $61.22 a barrel.
Nymex heating-oil futures slid 3.3 cents to settle at $1.7243 a gallon, unleaded-gasoline futures fell 2.25 cents to settle at $1.5988 a gallon, and natural-gas futures dropped 13.4 cents to settle at $7.427 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The market is somewhat uncertain what to expect from Thursday’s meeting of the 11-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Some OPEC officials have been pressing for a cut in output on top of the production cut of 1.2 million barrels a day approved in October, while others have indicated that with prices above $60 a barrel, the cartel was likely to refrain from cutting output.
Some Saudi officials have expressed satisfaction with price levels, but Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said recently he was concerned about excessively high oil inventories in major consuming nations.
Vienna’s PVM Oil Associates suggested that a weaker dollar could add to sentiment for production increases because crude is sold in dollars but much of the consumer goods purchased by OPEC nations are denominated in euros.
