* Oil over $1 to below $67 on demand concerns
* OPEC president urges members to cut, says Saudi key
* Iran latest to cut export volumes after OPEC agreement
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Oil fell below $67 a barrel on
Monday, handing back some of the previous session's near 3
percent gains, as traders shifted their focus back to slowing
global energy demand amid the financial crisis.
Analysts said traders would now be looking for signs that
OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia was cutting back its crude production
in line with the cartel's agreement last month to reduce output
by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd)
U.S. crude <CLc1> was down 63 cents at $67.18 a barrel by
2339 GMT, after falling as much as $1.13 at the start of
electronic trading. London Brent crude <LCOc1> was down 92
cents at $64.40.
"Demand concerns haven't gone away so that's a factor that
is weighing on the oil price this morning," said David Moore, a
commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"Also, the contract ended higher on Friday because of a
late spike on pre-weekend covering, so we're now seeing an
unwinding of the short-covering positions."
U.S. oil settled up $1.85, or 2.8 percent, at $67.81 a
barrel on Friday, but ended the month down more than 32
percent, the steepest monthly decline ever as global demand
slows.
In three months, oil has wiped out gains that took more
than a year to build, down more than half since they struck a
record $147.27 a barrel in July as a raft of poor economic data
added pressure from weak demand reports in the U.S. and other
key consumer nations.
OPEC members have no choice but to implement agreed output
cuts and inform customers of the reductions if they want a
stable oil price between $70-$90 a barrel, OPEC President
Chakib Khelil said on Sunday.
Khelil said Saudi Arabia was the key to the success of the
reductions, and if the world's biggest oil exporter took its
time over the operation the oil price could be affected.
[]
Other OPEC members have begun to notify customers that they
would reduce their crude oil sales in line with an OPEC
decision to cut output.
Iran's oil minister said on Saturday it had informed
customer France's Total <TOTF.PA> of an oil sales cut
[], while Kuwait has notified term customers in
Asia it would reduce their crude oil supplies by 5 percent from
November. []
Earlier last week, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates
told customers they would receive less oil, but top exporter
Saudi Arabia has yet to inform customers of any fresh curbs.
Oil's sharp downturn has spurred some OPEC members to call
for additional supply reductions to arrest a continued slide in
oil prices.
Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Saturday
that OPEC will cut output further, if needed, to achieve
stability in the oil market [], adding to comments
by Venezuelan oil minister last week that OPEC should cut oil
output by another 1 million bpd by December and should set a
minimum price target of $70 or $80 a barrel.
Crude oil speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange
shifted to net short positions in the week Oct. 28, the U.S.
Commodity Futures Trading Commissions reported on Friday.
[]
(Reporting by Fayen Wong; Editing by Kim Coghill)
