Surging oil prices gathered more steam yesterday as OPEC member Kuwait said it did not expect the cartel to ease supply curbs at a policy meeting next month, despite thinning stocks.
Oil market traders had previously thought an output hike was on the cards as prices are already nearing pain levels for Western consumer nations and demand normally balloons in the last quarter of the year.
International benchmark Brent crude oil rose nine cents to $27.09 (€27.7) a barrel by late afternoon in London, having climbed nearly $2 last week.
US crude futures also rose nine cents to $29.42, having earlier touched an 11-month high.
Kuwait's acting oil minister, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah, said he did not expect the cartel to raise output unless the price of its basket of crudes went above $28 per barrel.
