Oil climbs above $79 on speculation OPEC may cut

However, Saudi Arabia has so far shown no indication that it will support such a move

Brent crude oil climbed above $79 a barrel on Wednesday on speculation OPEC may act to stabilise prices that have fallen by almost a third in five months when it meets next week.

Some smaller OPEC members want production cuts at the November 27 meeting but Saudi Arabia has so far shown no indication that it will support such a move.

Libya's OPEC governor, Samir Kamal, told Reuters he thought OPEC would agree as a minimum step to remove from the market oil that it is pumping above the agreed target.

"I believe that the ministers will arrive to an agreement," Kamal said via email on Wednesday.

Brent was up 85 cents at $79.32 a barrel at 1350 GMT, after settling 84 cents lower in the previous session.

U.S. crude was up 20 cents at $74.81 a barrel. The U.S. crude futures contract closed $1.03 lower on Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley oil analysts led by Adam Longson said in a research note they now thought OPEC was likely to cut production sooner or later.

But even seasoned OPEC veterans say they do not know how the cartel will respond to the collapse in oil prices this year.

"For the first time, I really do not know what is likely to happen at the meeting. It is not clear," one long-serving senior OPEC delegate told Reuters.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday after data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed U.S. crude stockpiles rose 3.7 million barrels in the week ending Nov. 14, including a 1.4-million-barrel build at the Cushing oil hub.

A closely watched report from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) was due at 1530 GMT on Wednesday. A Reuters poll of seven analysts forecast crude stocks fell 800,000 barrels last week.

Unseasonably cold weather in the United States could boost demand for heating oil, with temperatures in all 50 states dipping to freezing or below on Tuesday.