Oil prices rose on Monday in Asia after comments by OPEC's president raised concerns the cartel could take further action to curb supplies if crude stocks remain high.
Oil prices have been falling for several weeks on signs in the key consuming regions of the United States and Europe that oil stocks were rising ahead of the peak-demand winter season when the need for heating oil usually causes a draw on inventories.
"We know that stocks are building up and we are checking that and in Vienna we will discuss measures to make sure a drawdown takes place," OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah told reporters on Sunday after a meeting of Gulf Arab oil ministers.
OPEC oil ministers plan to meet in Vienna on December 4 to review output policy.
Benchmark December crude futures, listed on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), were up 25 cents, or 0.86 percent, to $29.30 a barrel at 0516 GMT.
The rise added to a rally of more than two percent on Friday, when data showing the U.S., the world's biggest economy, grew an annualized 7.2 percent in the third quarter encouraged buying after five straight loss-making sessions.
"When people get in hearing these comments by the OPEC president, there is going to be some more buying in the absence of any other news," a New York broker said.
Over the weekend, OPEC had been due to implement a production cut of 3.5 percent to take the combined output of 10 of its members to 24.5 million barrels per day.
The cartel, which controls about half of the world's oil exports, decided in September to cut output because it was concerned rising supply from Iraq, which is not subject to OPEC's quota system, and non-aligned producers such as Russia, would cause world oil stocks to swell.
Attiyah said OPEC would take further action to ensure a normal winter stock draw if needed, adding current world supplies of oil were adequate.
"There is no shortage of oil in the market, we have confirmed it. We have asked all of our customers," Attiyah, who is also Qatar's oil minister, said.
However, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi adopted a more moderate tone, saying it was too early to say whether or not OPEC might need to cut output again when it meets in Vienna.
"I believe we should wait and look at the data when we meet on December 4 and decide accordingly. It is premature," Naimi said.
The ministers comments followed a meeting of the oil ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Oil producers Oman and Bahrain make up the members of the GCC, which in the past has made recommendations to OPEC about output policy.
Iraqi oil sources said at the weekend that hopes to resume operations on a key export pipeline from the north of Iraq to Turkey in the first week of November could be set back.
"The pipeline is still under repair. There is still uncertainty. We don't know if it will restart this week," the source told Reuters.
The pipeline has the capacity to pump 700,000 bpd and is one of two routes for Iraq crude exports, currently running at about one million bpd.
Oil prices have been falling for several weeks on signs in the key consuming regions of the United States and Europe that oil stocks were rising ahead of the peak-demand winter season when the need for heating oil usually causes a draw on inventories.
"We know that stocks are building up and we are checking that and in Vienna we will discuss measures to make sure a drawdown takes place," OPEC President Abdullah al-Attiyah told reporters on Sunday after a meeting of Gulf Arab oil ministers.
OPEC oil ministers plan to meet in Vienna on December 4 to review output policy.
Benchmark December crude futures, listed on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), were up 25 cents, or 0.86 percent, to $29.30 a barrel at 0516 GMT.
The rise added to a rally of more than two percent on Friday, when data showing the U.S., the world's biggest economy, grew an annualized 7.2 percent in the third quarter encouraged buying after five straight loss-making sessions.
"When people get in hearing these comments by the OPEC president, there is going to be some more buying in the absence of any other news," a New York broker said.
Over the weekend, OPEC had been due to implement a production cut of 3.5 percent to take the combined output of 10 of its members to 24.5 million barrels per day.
The cartel, which controls about half of the world's oil exports, decided in September to cut output because it was concerned rising supply from Iraq, which is not subject to OPEC's quota system, and non-aligned producers such as Russia, would cause world oil stocks to swell.
Attiyah said OPEC would take further action to ensure a normal winter stock draw if needed, adding current world supplies of oil were adequate.
"There is no shortage of oil in the market, we have confirmed it. We have asked all of our customers," Attiyah, who is also Qatar's oil minister, said.
However, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi adopted a more moderate tone, saying it was too early to say whether or not OPEC might need to cut output again when it meets in Vienna.
"I believe we should wait and look at the data when we meet on December 4 and decide accordingly. It is premature," Naimi said.
The ministers comments followed a meeting of the oil ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Oil producers Oman and Bahrain make up the members of the GCC, which in the past has made recommendations to OPEC about output policy.
Iraqi oil sources said at the weekend that hopes to resume operations on a key export pipeline from the north of Iraq to Turkey in the first week of November could be set back.
"The pipeline is still under repair. There is still uncertainty. We don't know if it will restart this week," the source told Reuters.
The pipeline has the capacity to pump 700,000 bpd and is one of two routes for Iraq crude exports, currently running at about one million bpd.
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