'Saudis did not make oil output threat'

Saudi Arabia didn't threaten to increase its oil production if other OPEC members wouldn't agree to make cuts, said the group's top official.

"Their contributions as usual were constructive" at talks with other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna last week, Mohammed Barkindo said.

OPEC held technical talks at its Vienna headquarters on October 28 aimed at finalising the details of the Algiers agreement to curb output to a range between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels a day. The meeting ended without reaching a deal on quotas for individual members. That prevented an accord with non-OPEC nations the following day. Ministers from the group will meet in Vienna on November 30 to decide how they will share the burden of the production cuts.

Oil extended losses earlier Friday after Reuters reported that Saudi Arabia threatened to raise output if other members didn't agree to cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude traded 13 cents, or 0.3 per cent, lower at $44.53 a barrel at 10:55 am New York time, having earlier lost as much as 2.4 per cent.

"After Barkindo's comments there's less concern that we will sink into an all-out price war," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts.

Oil has retreated below $45 a barrel this week for the first time since September, a decline triggered by the failure in Vienna to finalise the Algiers deal. While Goldman Sachs Group sees little probability of an agreement later this month, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup say an accord is likely.

BLOOMBERG