Saudi Arabia Warns Trump on Blocking Oil Imports — FT

Iran´s OPEC governor, who attended Friday´s talks, said he was optimistic that the producer group would reach a deal when it gathers formally in Vienna on November 30.Falih said the Friday meeting went well, but declined further comment. The futures surged as much as 2% in NY after dropping around 0.5% on Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Iraq’s oil minister said he is optimistic about the prospects for an agreement, and that some of the country’s issues with the deal have been hashed out.

But prices fell after the dollar index tapped a 13-1/2-year high on strong U.S. economic data and comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that bolstered the case for hiking interest rates next month.

“We estimate the possibility of an actual OPEC production cut as 50-50”, said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro. “The talk of a cut is what’s buoyed the market the last couple of months”. Experts say Iraq would have to compensate global oil companies for limits placed on their production if the OPEC deal is agreed.

Iraq has asked for an exemption, saying it needs the income to fund its war against the Islamic State jihadist group. Hamed Al-Zobaie, Iraq’s deputy minister for natural gas affairs, will represent the country instead, Jihad said.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude closed 15 cents lower at $45.42.

Oil prices have fallen the last three days, but Brent is still up 6 percent from a three-month low hit last Friday.

USA benchmark WTI crude () was down 11 cents, or 0.24 percent, at $45.46 a barrel at 0040 GMT.

Brent rose 1% to $47.27 per barrel. According to Jakob, the build in stockpiles in Cushing was higher than expected.

“The market is showing it’s uncertain about what’s going to happen”, Mr. McGillian said. “The market is sensitive to the latest Opec news, but there have been no signs of a breakthrough”.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih is expected to travel to the Qatari capital, Doha, this week for meetings with oil-producing countries, including Russian Federation, on the sidelines of an energy forum, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The oil exporters’ representatives – from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Russia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Venezuela, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Nigeria – are meeting in Qatar’s capital Doha to discuss details of a potential deal on output cuts. In an interview with Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television broadcast Thursday, he said he’s optimistic the Algiers accord will be implemented and will speed up the price recovery. BP (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) shares edged up 0.2%.