NEW YORK — Oil futures fell Monday but came back from earlier lows after Saudi Arabia’s oil minister appeared to defuse rumors that the oil cartel might agree to boost production at a meeting this weekend.
However, Ali Naimi left open the possibility that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will agree to increase output during a meeting in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, next month.
“(Production will be discussed) when OPEC meets in Abu Dhabi, not here,” he told Dow Jones Newswires in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where this weekend’s meeting will be held. “This is not meant to be that kind of a meeting.”
Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $1.70 to settle at $94.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling as low as $93.54 earlier.
Gasoline prices, meanwhile, rose 0.1 cent overnight to a national average of $3.101 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices have risen 34 cents a gallon in a little less than a month, following oil futures higher.
That trend could end, if crude prices fail to reach $100 a barrel and instead begin a seasonal decline.
Analysts weren’t surprised oil prices were taking a breather from their record-setting rally.
“As some point, somebody needs to take profits,” said Linda Rafield, senior oil analyst at Platts, the energy research arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.
