“Oil headed for the biggest weekly gain since September in New York as U.S. lawmakers scheduled talks aimed at averting automatic tax increases and spending cuts that threaten the economy of the world’s largest consumer.
West Texas Intermediate climbed as much as 0.7 percent, extending this week’s advance to 2.7 percent. Congressional leaders plan to meet with President Barack Obama today, seeking to resolve a budget impasse before at least $600 billion in fiscal measures take effect on Jan. 1. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced the chamber will meet Dec. 30 for its first Sunday session in more than two years. U.S. stockpiles shrank last week, an industry report showed yesterday.
“Prices could jump if U.S. politicians strike a deal on avoiding the fiscal cliff,” said Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. in Middelfart, Denmark, who predicts Brent, the benchmark grade for half the world’s oil, will be little changed in the first quarter, averaging $112 a barrel. “If no deal is struck, prices are likely to trade sideways at current levels.”
WTI for February delivery climbed as much as 62 cents to $91.49 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $91.02 at 12:24 p.m. London time. The volume traded for all contracts was about 34 percent below the 100-day average. Futures are set for their first annual drop since 2008.
Brent for February settlement on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange increased as much as 58 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $111.38 a barrel. The volume was 50 percent less than the 100-day average. It was at a premium of $19.62 to WTI, down from $19.93 yesterday, the narrowest closing spread in almost 10 weeks…”
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