Oil declines as Opec members boost output

Oil declined as Opec members added supply and US producers increased drilling, threatening to compound a global surplus.

Futures fell by as much as 1.8 per cent. Libyan output expanded to 560,000 barrels a day, according to the National Oil Corp, up from 540,000 last week. Iran repeated plans to boost production to 4 million barrels a day. Nigeria aims to raise output by 400,000 barrels a day to 2.2 million, Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said in New Delhi. Rigs targeting crude in the US rose for a seventh week to the highest since February, Baker Hughes said.

Oil has fluctuated near $50 a barrel amid uncertainty about whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will implement an agreement to reduce supply. An Opec committee will meet later this month to try and resolve differences over how much individual members should pump. The details of how supply will be reduced needs to be finalised by the group's next meeting in Vienna on November 30.