Oil prices fell towards $61 a barrel on Monday ahead of Opec's meeting in Vienna, where the group was widely expected to agree to hold output steady. News Nigerian militants breached an oil pipeline in the Niger Delta failed to push prices higher. US energy firm Chevron said on Monday the attack on its pipeline shut down 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production.
US crude futures for July delivery fell by 39 cents to $61.27 a barrel by 1712 GMT. London Brent crude shed 56 cents to $60.22. US markets were closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. NYMEX floor trading resumes on Tuesday. Oil prices rallied around 9.5 percent last week, boosted by a spate of US refinery problems and unrest in major oil exporter Nigeria, and are nearly double the lows they hit in December.
They have been also drawn strength from Opec supply curbs totalling 4.2 million barrels per day since last September, as well as from market sentiment the economic recession is easing and demand for energy will revive. Ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) are widely expected to make no change to oil supply when they meet in Vienna on Thursday, as higher prices have helped to mitigate their concerns about overflowing fuel inventories and dwindling demand.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said Opec would "probably stay the course" as he forecast a pick-up in demand and prices eventually rising towards $75 a barrel. Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said all Opec members agreed there was no need for an output cut at Thursday's meeting. "I think that everybody is in agreement," Khelil told Reuters at the G8 energy summit in Rome.
ASIAN TRADE Oil prices fell towards $61 a barrel on Monday, shedding some of the previous session's gains, on growing risk aversion after North Korea said it had successfully conducted a nuclear test. US crude futures for July delivery fell 32 cents to $61.35 a barrel by 0312 GMT. The contract settled up 62 cents at $61.67 a barrel on Friday, boosted by data showing a big increase in Chinese demand, along with a weak dollar. London Brent crude fell 23 cents to $60.55.
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