Oil prices slumped to their lowest level in more than three weeks as OPEC members signalled they may leave production unchanged through the rest of the winter.
US crude futures dropped $1.38 (€1.08) to $45.10 a barrel, the lowest since mid-January, while London Brent was down 89 cents to $43.00 a barrel.
The losses extend crude's slide to about 9 per cent since OPEC members met on January 31st and agreed to hold their production steady. Members left open the door to possible snap cuts to be agreed by telephone.
At the weekend two producers indicated that prices hovering well above $40 a barrel looked likely to stave off a decision to slash output, at least until OPEC's next meeting on March 16th.
The prospect of steady output from the cartel until spring could mean continued increases in fuel stockpiles in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer, where unseasonably mild weather is already cooling demand for heating oil.
"We will wait until March [ for any output decision]," Algeria's Energy and Mines Minister, Mr Chakib Khelil, said on Saturday.
OPEC president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah reiterated that ministers would need to discuss taking action if prices fell 30 or 40 per cent or surged above $50, or if commercial oil inventories climbed sharply.
"Until now, I don't think there's any need for any consultations," Sheikh Ahmad, also Kuwait's oil minister, told reporters on Saturday.
"Our worry is not now; our worry is the second quarter," he said.
OPEC, which controls 40 per cent of world oil exports, has been wary of a springtime decline in global demand.
Winter supply fears are ending well before the season amid forecasts that the heavy-consuming US northeast may have already endured the worst cold.
Several private forecasters are predicting warmer than usual conditions to prevail in February and March, which would limit the use of heating oil.
"Although nearly two months of climatic winter remain ahead of us, the market already has its attention elsewhere," according to SG Commodities in a report.
Traders are increasingly focused on the second-quarter demand slump and, beyond that, the gasoline-driven boost in the summer, with higher motor fuel stockpiles raising hopes that the United States may avert a spring price spike for the first time in two years.
Iraq expects to restart its northern oil export pipeline in five or six days, ending a stoppage of more than seven weeks due to sabotage attacks on the line.
The pipeline to Turkey has been idle since December 18th, forcing Iraq to rely entirely for exports on seaborne shipments from the southern oil terminal of Basra.
Baghdad exported around 1.43 million barrels per day in January, down from 1.50 million barrels per day in December. - (Reuters)
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