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By Ahmad Ghaddar
LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Oil prices were mixed on Friday
but remained on course for a fourth straight week of gains ahead
of an OPEC+ meeting early next week.
Brent crude for January rose 28 cents, or 0.6%, to
$48.08 a barrel by 0913 GMT and the more active February
contract gained 32 cents to $48.11.
West Texas Intermediate, meanwhile, was down 40
cents, or 0.9%, at $45.31.
Both benchmarks are up about 7% over the week after
encouraging news on potential COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca
and others. However, questions have been raised over
AstraZeneca's "vaccine for the world", with several scientists
sounding caution over the trial results.
"While a successful vaccine rollout should break the link
between infection and mobility, even then global oil demand will
likely only reach its pre-pandemic run rate by mid-2022," JP
Morgan said.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
and allies including Russia are leaning towards delaying next
year's planned increase in oil output, said three sources close
to the OPEC+ group.
OPEC+ was planning to raise output by 2 million barrels per
day (bpd) in January - about 2% of global consumption - after
record supply cuts this year. OPEC+ ministers are due to meet
from Monday.
"We reiterate our view that the alliance will likely choose
to delay the 2 million bpd tapering decision on 30 November by a
quarter, from January 1 to April 1," JP Morgan said.
Informal talks between ministers are set to take place on
Saturday.
Rising Libyan output is also contributing to concerns about
oversupply in the market.
The OPEC member, which is exempt from the oil cuts, has
added more than 1.1 million bpd of output since early September.
(Addiontal reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in TOKYO
Editing by David Goodman
)
