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Oil prices drop near $68

04 September 2009 07:38 (UTC +04:00)

Bakuâ€“ APA-Economics. Crude oil traded little changed near $68 a barrel, poised for the biggest decline in eight weeks, on speculation that OPEC will keep output steady as gasoline demand slows with the end of the U.S. summer driving season, Bloomberg reported.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will probably maintain its target at 24.845 million barrels a day at its meeting next week, according to all 26 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Floor trading for oil in New York will be closed for Labor Day, marking the end of the peak gasoline consumption season in the U.S., the worldâ€™s biggest crude user.
Crude oil for October delivery was at $68.18 a barrel, up 22 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:21 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract fell 9 cents to $67.96. Oil has declined 6.4 percent this week, the biggest drop since July 10.

Brent crude oil for October settlement was at $67.36 a barrel, up 24 cents, at 12:17 p.m. Singapore time on the London- based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Yesterday it dropped 54 cents, or 0.8 percent, to end the session at $67.12 a barrel. The contract is poised to fall 7.7 percent this week, the most since the week of July 10.

OPEC members, due to meet in Vienna on Sept. 9, have implemented about 71 percent of the 4.2 million barrel-a-day supply cuts agreed on last year, according to Bloomberg data. The group accounts for 40 percent of global oil output.

OPEC will reduce shipments by 1.1 percent in the month to Sept. 19, according to consultant Oil Movements.

The producer group will export 22.34 million barrels a day by sea in the four-week period, down from an average of 22.58 million barrels a day in the month to Aug. 22, Oil Movements said in a report yesterday.