Oil continues to rise as Russia talks, US dollar slides

[NEW YORK] Oil prices were again bolstered on Tuesday as the US dollar weakened and Russia continued to hint at efforts to end the global supply glut.

A barrel of West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose 84 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to close at US$46.58 in New York.

In London, North Sea Brent crude for October delivery settled up 88 cents at US$49.23 a barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange.

A Russian delegation on Tuesday visited the headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. In a statement put out later, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said his country was planning a possible meeting with Opec in October. Russia is not an Opec member.

Mr Novak's remarks followed word in recent days out of Saudi Arabia that an Opec meeting next month could produce an agreement on stabilising prices and that Russia would cooperate.

Oil prices also got a boost as the dollar weakened on foreign exchange markets, with the euro rising to US$1.1279 from US$1.1183 between Monday and Tuesday.

According to Robert Yawger of Mizuho Securities, the flow of recent publicity from Moscow and Riyadh on perhaps reining in production has cheered investors through a week of trading.

"Overall, since August 8th there's been an endless supply of headlines by Opec talking about this late September meeting," said Mr Yawger, who noted that the remarks came during a period of record short-selling.

"And today the Russian came out and start talking about even going to a meeting in October. That helped support the market today too."

AFP