Oil prices turned up on Friday as dealers covered their positions just in case OPEC produced something unexpected from a special meeting in Vienna.
A barrel of Brent North Sea reference crude for December delivery ticked up 28 cents to 20.90 dollars in early deals. Overnight, the New York light sweet crude contract fell 50 cents to 21.31 dollars a barrel, its lowest level since October 1999.
Analysts said the market was keeping one eye on a gathering of several ministers from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for a special session to assess a recent oil price slump. Prices have caved in some 25 percent since last month's terrorist attacks in the United States.
"There might be a little bit of buying in the market in case OPEC do something over the weekend," said Tony Machacek, a trader with the Prudential Bache brokerage.
The OPEC Market Monitoring Committee (MMC) brings together OPEC's president, Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil, its secretary general Ali Rodriguez along with the oil ministers of Nigeria, Kuwait and Iran.
But OPEC finds its hands tied by a special set of circumstances in deciding what to do about the weak prices. A simple cut in output could lose it further market share, and could in any case prove ineffective as many OPEC countries are believed to be producing above current quotas.
"While we would expect some positive rhetoric to come out of the meeting, we would be surprised if there is anything more substantial than that," said Lawrence Eagles, an analyst with the GNI brokerage. "It is highly unlikely that a rumoured output cut will be announced at the meeting."
Eagles said there was a "growing feeling that even if the group acts it will be ineffective without the support of non-OPEC nations." OPEC is believed to be trying to strongarm producers outside the 11-nation cartel into joint action to support the market.
The cartel's own basket price of seven world crudes fell further on Thursday to 18.54 dollars a barrel from 19.07 on Wednesday, OPEC's information agency said -- London, (AFP)
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