LONDON -- Oil climbed above $63 on Friday after OPEC's president said he favoured another production cut when the group meets next week.
U.S. crude rose $1.04 at $63.53 a barrel at 1350 GMT. London Brent crude traded $1.21 higher at $63.78.
OPEC President Edmund Daukoru said he wanted the group to trim output when it meets on Thursday, deepening a 1.2 million barrel per day cut agreed upon in October.
"I favour a cut," Daukoru told reporters in Abuja. "The market is still soft ... I'm not comfortable."
"We hope that if we moderate supply a bit, if we don't flood the market, some mop up will take place as winter really kicks in," he added.
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Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's energy minister, said crude prices at $63 a barrel were still too cheap. Prices have rebounded more than 15 percent since tumbling to a 17-month low of $54.86 in mid-November.
A senior OPEC delegate earlier on Friday told Reuters that there was a "strong possibility" the group would trim output further to bring down high global inventories.
"Everybody knows that stock levels are higher than they should be," he said.
U.S. crude stocks were near their highest since 1991 for this time of year.
Ken Hasegawa, a manager at Japan's Himawari CX, said OPEC needed to cut at least 500,000 barrels per day to maintain the current price level.
"I think OPEC will cut production to support prices till the second quarter of 2007. The supply side is too strong right now," he said.
The market also found support from a sharp fall in the Brent loading schedule for January.
The Shell-operated Brent crude oil stream was scheduled to load 139,000 barrels per day in January, down nearly half from the previous month's 268,000 bpd.
Traders attributed the decline to poor production and demand for January cargoes.
"At year-end, most participants wish to load within December 2006 instead of forwarding it into January," one trader said.
Shell officials had no immediate comment.
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Editor's note:
Warning: Oil Prices Will Collapse, Profit from It!
