Oil price goes up after three-day decline

Oil halted its three-day decline near $45 a barrel as Saudi Arabia sees low prices spurring demand growth, Bloomberg reported.

Brent for December settlement was 46 cents higher at $47.88 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

The prices for Brent fell 4.3 percent last week.

WTI for December delivery climbed as much as 51 cents to $44.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $44.72 at 2:26 p.m. Singapore time (UTC/GMT +8 hours). The contract lost 91 cents, or 2 percent, to $44.29 on Nov.6, the lowest close since Oct. 27.

Many Asian countries welcome the recent decline in oil, and demand “will soon reflect the attractiveness of the current prices,” Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi said in an article posted on the International Energy Forum’s website.

Nevertheless, a global surplus will continue for as long as five years as producers in the Middle East increase output, according to Mohammed Al-Shatti, Kuwait’s representative to OPEC.

/By Trend/