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Oil retraced some losses after the biggest monthly decline since July as the Organisation of Petroleum Countries (Opec) showed few signs of slowing its production heading into this week’s policy meeting.

Futures were steady in New York after falling 11 percent in November. Opec pumped 32.12 million barrels a day last month, keeping its output above quota for an 18th month, according to a Bloomberg survey of companies and analysts. Crude stockpiles in the US, the world’s largest oil consumer, probably shrank for the first time in 10 weeks, a separate Bloomberg poll showed before government data tomorrow.

Oil prices have dropped almost 40 percent the past year as a record surplus persisted amid a global producers’ fight for market share. Opec is meeting Dec 4, a year after Saudi Arabia led an agreement to keep pumping and drive out higher-cost shale rivals. While the group’s collective supply slid from October, Iran and Libya are among members to have signalled plans to increase output.

“Opec may change its rhetoric but it won’t change its actions and the market will probably hold tight until the outcome of the meeting,” David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone. “There is unlikely to be any change to the quota.”

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery was at US$41.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 29 cents, at 11.08 am Hong Kong time. The contract slid 6 cents to US$41.65 on Monday. The volume of all futures traded was about 40 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for January settlement was 18 cents higher at US$44.79 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It decreased 10 percent in November. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of US$2.85 to WTI.

- Bloomberg

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