(Bloomberg) -- Oil climbed near the highest level in more than two months as OPEC gave a tepid response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand that it take rapid action to reduce prices, saying it would boost output only if customers requested it.
Futures in New York rose as much as 1.2 percent after a 0.7 percent gain Friday. the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allied producers stopped short of promising specific extra volumes of crude after the group’s meeting in Algeria with Saudi Arabia saying the market is well supplied. Signs of slowing growth in U.S. crude production also supported prices.
Oil has rallied about 10 percent from the lows of mid-August as investors increasingly question whether OPEC and allies will boost output, prompting Trump to renew his criticism of the producers for pushing for higher prices. Still, a full-blown trade war between the U.S. and China could imperil global economic growth that underpins crude demand as the two countries are hours away from a new round of tariffs on each other’s goods.
West Texas Intermediate for November delivery rose as much as 88 cents to $71.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $71.57 at 9:09 a.m. in Tokyo. The contract climbed 46 cents to $70.78 on Friday. Total volume traded was about 34 percent above the 100-day average.
Brent for November rose $1.06 to $79.86 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract advanced 10 cents to $78.80 on Friday. The global benchmark traded at an $8.25 premium to WTI for the same month.
