Oil jumps on supply cuts in U.S. Gulf, wariness about North Sea, OPEC | Reuters

Oil jumps on supply cuts in U.S. Gulf, wariness about North Sea, OPEC | Reuters:

Oil settled above $43 a barrel on Thursday on support from output shutdowns ahead of a storm in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the possibility of supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and Norway.

Markets rose sharply at noon on a Dow Jones report that Saudi Arabia is considering reversing course over OPEC’s planned production increase early next year.

Brent crude LCOc1 settled up $1.35, or 3.2% to $43.34, after falling 1.6% on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 added $1.24 cents, or 3.1%, to $41.19 after falling 1.8% on Wednesday.

Oil also gained support from the prospect of more production outages in the North Sea because of a workers’ strike. Oil firms and labor officials said they will meet with a state-appointed mediator on Friday in an attempt both sides hope will bring an end to a strike that threatens to cut Norway’s oil and gas output by some 25%.