Oil Prices Jump 3%

Oil prices jumped more than 3% on Tuesday, bouncing back from multi-month lows on expectations that OPEC will agree later this month to cut production to reduce a supply glut.

North Sea Brent crude oil was up $1.50 a barrel at $45.93 after hitting a three-month low of $43.57 on Monday. US light crude was up $1.50 a barrel at $44.82. It reached a three-month low of $42.20 on Monday, Reuters reported.

Oil producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are due to meet later this month to agree to limit output. An outline deal was reached in September but negotiations on the detail are proving difficult, officials say. OPEC is a diverse grouping, politically and economically, and several members wish to increase production.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister has said it is imperative OPEC reach a consensus on a deal to curb production, Algeria's state news agency APS said on Sunday.

IG Group market strategist Jingyi Pan said market sentiment has been buoyed by reports that key producers including Iran and Iraq were thinking about restraining production. News of an attack on a major oil pipeline in Nigeria, the Nembe Creek Trunk Line in the southern Niger Delta, gave an additional push to prices.

chnical analysts said oil markets were due an upward correction after a month of falls. But rising Libyan oil production could cap gains. Libya's oil production has almost doubled to around 600,000 bpd in recent weeks.