Sofia – Oil prices increased to near $ 89 a barrel Tuesday in Asia traders looked to the weekend OPEC meeting for changes in cartel's crude production.
Benchmarking of oil for January delivery was up 40 cents to $ 88 77 per barrel in the late afternoon of Singapore time in electronic trading on Schwartz Mercantile Exchange. Contract to 9 cents to settle at $ 88 37 on Thursday.
Analysts say officials in 12-nation organization of petroleum exporting countries are likely to leave the Group's production quotas unchanged at Saturday's meeting in Ecuador.
OPEC, which is responsible for 35 per cent of global oil production has not changed its output quotas since the end of 2008. Last month, said the Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi that oil between $ 70 and $ 90 per barrel was acceptable to consumers.
Some analysts are worried that the sluggish economic growth in the developed countries cannot justify high prices for commodities such as oil, which reached a two year high earlier this week.
"The threat of bubbles is greatest in commodity markets, says Capital Economics in a report."If commodity prices will be maintained at these levels, the final demand from consumers also be consistently strong. "
"Since the major developed economies recover only gradually from recession, this placing an awful lot of weight on the rise in emerging economies."
In other Nymex trading in January contract, heating oil rose 1.5 cents to $ 2.48 a gallon of gasoline futures to 0.2 per cent to $ 2.34 slipped a gallon and NG 0.5% to $ 4.43 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude oil increased 50 cents to $ 91.49 per barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.
