MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

OPEC fails to reach agreement on production targets for the first time in 20 years

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates ready to supply more oil to the market

Oil rose for a third day in New York after OPEC failed to reach an agreement on production targets for the first time in at least 20 years and U.S. crude inventories fell more than analysts forecast.

Futures gained as much as 0.7% after climbing 1.7% Tuesday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will maintain its current output for now, said Mohammad Aliabadi, the acting Iranian oil minister and OPEC president.

A Gulf delegate said June 7 that the group would increase production targets. A U.S. government report showed crude supplies dropped the most since December.

Crude for July delivery rose as much as 73 cents to $101.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday the contract climbed $1.65 to $100.74, the highest settlement since May 31. Prices are up 36% over the past year.

Brent crude oil for July delivery was at $117.98 a barrel, up 13 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It was the highest settlement since May 4.

Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were ready to supply more oil to the market, according to Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi. The four nations proposed a 1.5 million barrel-a-day increase from the current 28.8 million, he said.

Libya, Angola, Ecuador, Algeria, Iran and Venezuela were opposed to higher limits, according to Naimi. Iraq is exempt from the targets.

The International Energy Agency said it was disappointed that OPEC failed to agree on an increase in output, according to a statement e-mailed. “Ongoing supply disruptions, as well as the fragile state of the global economy, call for a prompt increase in supply,” the Paris-based group said.

Brent has advanced 24 percent this year as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and spread to Libya. The fighting in Libya has removed about 1.5 million barrels a day of output from market.

U.S. crude stockpiles decreased 4.85 million barrels to 369 million last week, the biggest decline this year, according to the Energy Department. Gasoline supplies climbed 2.21 million barrels to 214.5 million, according to the Energy Department. They were forecast to rise 1.1 million barrels, the Bloomberg News survey shows.