Oil Prices Fall Around $1 Per Barrel

Oil prices fell Friday with shipping data indicating that OPEC could be raise production to ease record prices.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery lost 99 cents to $96.30 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by mid-afternoon in Europe. The contract rose as high as $97.64 earlier in the day before retreating.

January Brent crude fell 41 cents to $94.09 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Tanker tracker data released late Thursday by Britain-based Oil Movements showed that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will boost production by 720,000 barrels in the four weeks to Dec. 8 as Saudi Arabia steps up deliveries to the U.S., Dow Jones Newswires reported.

That's well above the 500,000 barrels a day output increase agreed by the organization when it met in September.

Thin trading volumes due to the U.S. Thanksgiving festivities and a public holiday Friday in Japan also were behind the lower prices. Electronic trading was not affected.

OPEC's next policy meeting is set for Dec. 5 in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Cartel officials have resisted pressure to increase oil production to ease prices that have soared about 60 percent this year.

"One of the key things on the near-term horizon is the OPEC conference, where they have indicated they (the leaders) will be discussing or considering OPEC production levels," said David Moore, a commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

"Between now and then the markets will just be paying very close attention to statements by OPEC officials as they try to get some feel for what they may or may not do at that meeting," Moore said. "Depending on how much they move on output, it's potentially quite a significant influence on the supply-demand balance and therefore the oil price."

OPEC officials have however cast doubt on the effect any output hike would have on oil prices, saying the recent rise has been driven by the falling dollar and financial speculation by investment funds, rather than any supply shortage.

On Friday, the euro set another high against the U.S. currency, spiking early to hit $1.4966 and breaking the previous record of $1.4873, set Thursday.

In morning European trading, the euro retreated slightly to $1.4924, still up from $1.4833 late Thursday in Europe.

"As long as the Fed may be likely to cut interest rates, and as long as it is willing to cut rates, we are unlikely to be finished with this bull market in oil prices," wrote Peter Beutel, president of U.S. energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, in a research note.

Oil prices touched a record $99.29 a barrel in intraday trading Wednesday, but fell back after a U.S. weekly inventory report showed crude oil stocks rose at a key oil terminal.

The rise at Cushing, Okla., the physical delivery point for oil contracts bought on the New York Mercantile Exchange, offset the impact from an unexpected drop in the overall stockpiles. Falling supplies at the terminal are seen as a symptom of a tight market, and the gain in Cushing eased those concerns.

The report also showed that oil inventories fell 1.1 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast, on average, an increase of 700,000 barrels. Cushing inventories, though, rose 1.2 million barrels, their first substantial increase in weeks, and the largest since the end of August.

Nymex heating oil futures fell 1.24 cents to $2.6750 a gallon (3.8 liters) and gasoline prices dipped 1.71 cents to $2.4200 a gallon.

Natural gas futures rose 8.5 cents to $7.635 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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Associated Press Writer Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report.