Oil up on Mexico port closures, OPEC comments

                                
 By Fayen Wong
                                
 SYDNEY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Oil rose on Monday, nearing $91
a barrel, with prices supported by the closure of Mexico's oil
export terminals due to bad weather, as well as OPEC's
dismissal of calls to raise output.
                                
 U.S. light crude for February delivery <CLc1> rose 36 cents
to $90.93 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 0043 GMT.
Oil snapped a three-day losing streak and closed 44 cents
higher at $90.57 a barrel on Friday, thanks to short-covering
ahead of the Martin Luther King holiday in the United States.
                                
 Mexico closed all its main oil exporting ports on Sunday
due to bad weather, the transport ministry said on its Web
site. The Gulf of Mexico ports ship around 80 percent of
Mexico's daily oil exports.
                                
 Mexico, the world's No. 9 exporter of crude oil and a
top-three supplier to the U.S., has seen its exports repeatedly
disrupted in recent months by rough weather that has halted
shipments for days at a time.
                                
 OPEC's cool reaction to U.S. calls for it to raise output
also helped keep prices firm above the $90 mark.
                                
 "The shutdown of Mexico's oil ports is pushing up prices a
little ... I think there is also growing sentiment that OPEC
will leave its production unchanged at its next meeting," said
Rowan Menzies, head of research at Commodity Warrants
Australia.
                                
 The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on
Sunday said the global market was well supplied and the cartel
has little control over oil prices near $90 a barrel
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 "I don't think there is a need to increase because the
market is well supplied," Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah told
reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi on
Sunday.
                                
 U.S. President George W. Bush and Energy Secretary Sam
Bodman have urged top exporter Saudi Arabia and OPEC to raise
supply on two separate visits to the Kingdom last week.
                                
 The production group will meet on Feb. 1 in to discuss
output. Several OPEC members have said there was no reason to
raise output if oil inventories recover in the second quarter
as winter ends and if the U.S. slips into a recession.
                                
 Ongoing geopolitical tensions between Iran and the U.S.
over Tehran's nuclear programme also supported oil prices. Iran
received a fourth delivery of nuclear fuel from Russia on
Sunday to power Tehran's first atomic power plant and it
expects four more before the consignment is complete.
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 NYMEX floor trading and other U.S. financial markets are
closed on Monday to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
But energy futures will continue to trade on the Globex
electronic and NYMEX ClearPort platforms on normal schedule.
                                
 Mounting U.S. economic problems, including high energy
costs, have prompted analysts to cut forecasts for oil demand
growth and helped cut crude prices by 10 percent from the
record $100.09 hit Jan. 3.
                                
 Amid recession fears, analysts said investors will look out
for corporate earnings and prospects for help from central
banks as guidance this week.
 (Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Valerie Lee)