Oil Climbs as Saudi Arabian Offer Opens Door to Future OPEC Deal

(Bloomberg) - Oil advanced as Saudi Arabia’s offer to cut output opened the door to a future OPEC deal, though the kingdom doesn’t expect an agreement when members of the group meet this week.

Futures rose 3.3 percent in New York after slumping 4 percent on Friday. While Saudi Arabia and Iran didn’t reach an agreement after two days of preparatory talks in Vienna, the Saudis did offer to pump less crude if Iran caps output, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The kingdom proposed to cut its production to January levels, Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa said Sunday.

"I think it’s positive that OPEC is getting together," Francisco Blanch, head of commodity markets strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York, said in a Bloomberg television interview. "It’s in the Saudis’ interest and other OPEC members’ interest to start coming together and do something."

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