Oil steady near $52 as Saudi prince backs Opec cuts

Speculation mounts that supply curbs by members of the Opec and its allies will be prolonged

Oil steadied near $52 a barrel as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman backed the extension of Opec production cuts beyond March 2018.

Futures were little changed in New York after falling 0.6 per cent on Wednesday. Prince Mohammed said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Riyadh that “of course” he wanted to extend Opec’s production cuts in 2018, making it all but certain the group and its allies will roll over the curbs at a meeting next month.

Oil is holding gains above $50 a barrel as speculation mounts that supply curbs by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies including Russia will be prolonged when they meet in Vienna on November 30. In Iraq, the state oil company is working with a Kurdish firm to resume pumping at two disputed fields after government troops recaptured them from Kurdish forces.