Oil jumps to 15-month high on falling inventories

Oil jumped to a 15-month high in New York after the US government reported that US crude inventories unexpectedly fell last week and Saudi Arabia's energy minister said many nations were willing to join Opec output cuts. Futures rose as much as 3.3 per cent to the highest since July 2015.

The Energy Information Administration reported a 5.25 million barrel decline in US crude supplies to the lowest level since January in the week ended October 14th. Analysts surveyed had forecast a 2.1 million barrel increase.

Opec can continue to stabilise the market and other nations have given “strong signals” they will co-operate, Saudi Arabia’s minister of energy and industry Khalid Al-Falih said in London.

An Opec committee will meet later this month to try to resolve differences over how much individual members should pump. Opec will start with an output freeze, or possibly a small cut, Al-Falih said. – Bloomberg