OPEC quota news pushes oil prices up

The price of crude oil futures was up Thursday on the news that OPEC will only consider upping crude oil production quotas by 500,000 barrels per day if prices reach $60 per barrel.

OPEC also upped what it called the “ideal” price for West Texas Intermediate crude to $53 per barrel.

Last month, most OPEC ministers had named $40 to $50 per barrels as the ideal price range for both producers and consumers.

WTI contracts for August delivery were up 24 cents to $57.50 per barrel in early afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at late afternoon in London, Brent crude on the International Petroleum Exchange had risen 32 cents to $56.47 per barrel.

July Nymex heating oil gained 4 cents to $1.6450 per gallon, while IPE July gasoil was up $13.50 to $526 per tonne.

These rises in distillate prices helped drive the gain in crude oil prices. Declines in price earlier in the week were attributed to profit-taking by oil traders.

In Russia, meanwhile, one of Vladimir Putin’s top aides, Igor Shuvalov, announced that Russia is determined to rise above a slowdown in oil output growth.

No time targets were offered, but Mr. Shuvalov expressed confidence that output could be increased by 7.5 percent to 10 million barrels per day.

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