Oil Prices Continue To Drift Higher

New York, NY, March 10, 2009--Oil prices rose to near $48 a barrel Tuesday in Asia after OPEC signaled it will likely announce another production cut within days, adding to large supply reductions the cartel has already implemented.

Benchmark crude for April delivery rose 73 cents to $47.80 a barrel by midafternoon in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices gained $1.55 on Monday to settle at $47.07.

After falling into the mid $30s this winter, oil has slowly moved higher.

Leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have suggested for weeks that the group may cut output quotas at its next meeting on March 15 in Vienna.

On Monday, Kuwaiti Supreme Petroleum Council member Moussa Marafi told the Kuwait News Agency that an OPEC production cut of a million barrels a day would raise prices to over $50 a barrel by the third quarter of 2009.

Investors expect OPEC to announce fresh production cuts of between 500,000 and 1 million barrels a day.