Traders who have steadily boosted crude since the month began took a deep breath yesterday, with prices dropping on concerns of an overbought market and rising shale production.

Oil reached levels last seen more than two years ago as Saudi Arabian King Salman’s anti-corruption drive shook the world’s biggest crude exporter just weeks before major producers gather to discuss prolonging historic production caps.

Oil prices stabilised after Saudi Aramco said it plans to make “the deepest customer allocation cuts in its history” in oil supplies in November to help reduce global inventories and balance the market.

The age of persistently weak oil prices is nearing its end, with demand booming and a supply squeeze in the offing, according to trading giant Trafigura.

Crude headed for its longest run of gains this year as Libya’s biggest oil field suffered another outage while Russia signalled it is weighing an extension of Opec-led production cuts.

The price of oil has dropped below $50 in New York trading for the first time since December as concerns that Opec’s output cuts are failing to restrain record US stockpiles triggered the biggest slump in more than a year.

Oil increased to $54.95 a barrel in London after a US government report showed US refiners processed a record amount of crude last week.

Oil rose to an 18-month high as output cuts by Kuwait and Oman signalled that Opec and its partners are delivering on their accord to stabilise the market.

Opec clinched a deal to curtail oil supply, confounding sceptics as the need to clear a record global crude glut — and prove the group’s credibility — brought its first cuts in eight years.

Iraq threw an obstacle in Opec’s path toward a final deal to stabilise oil markets when it balked at joining efforts to trim output to prop up crude prices.

An informal Opec meeting next month is unlikely to deliver any agreement to limit production because several members including Iran are still pumping below capacity.

Oil gained after Opec’s president said the group will hold informal talks in Algiers next month and predicted the current bear market would be short lived.

Opec yesterday predicted that the global oil market will be more balanced in the second half of this year as demand rises and rival supplies falter, echoing views expressed by ministers at the group’s meeting earlier this month.

Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi, the architect of the 2014 switch in Opec policy that has since roiled the energy market, companies, and entire economies, is leaving his post.

Oil rose to a four-month high in London ahead of a meeting in Doha this month where producers will discuss freezing output.

Oil markets will probably balance by the end of next year, prices rising in the medium term, according to Sultan Al Jaber, new head of Abu Dhabi National Oil.

Saudi Arabia will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince said, challenging the country’s main regional rival to take an active role in stabilising the over-supplied global crude market.

Iran plans to boost its output of crude oil to 4 million barrels a day before it will consider joining other suppliers in seeking ways to rebalance the global oil market.

Amid the plunge in oil prices, Saudi Arabia expects to post a budget deficit of 367 billion riyals (€89.1bn) and Russia’s economy teeters on the brink of a deeper recession, while Iran wants to swiftly boost its oil exports, it emerged yesterday.

Brent crude hit an 11-year low of $36.20 this week, in part because Opec has ceased to function.

The euro weakened after reports showing inflation in the eurozone fell short of analyst estimates and US hiring jumped, kicking off three days of economic events likely to set the course for global markets into 2016.

Oil prices will probably continue to decline and could reach as low as $30 (€26.40) a barrel, according to Gary Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs Group.

Oil fell in 2014 by the most since the 2008 global financial crisis as US producers and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries ceded no ground in their battle for market share amid a supply glut.

Oil producers outside of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) should cut “irresponsible” output with excess supplies harming the market, said the United Arab Emirates energy minister.

Oil is so much more than a fuel. It’s a force even bigger than its $3.4 trillion (€2.7trn) market. It’s a weapon, a strategic asset, a curse. It’s a maker and spoiler of fortunes, a leading indicator and an echo chamber.

A huge explosion has rocked Venezuela’s biggest oil refinery, killing at least 24 people and injuring more than 50 others in the deadliest disaster in memory for the country’s oil industry.

The death toll from an explosion at Venezuela’s biggest oil refinery has risen to 19, according to a state governor.

Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi named Gholamhossein Nozari, a former oil minister of the Islamic republic, as the nation’s candidate for the position of Opec secretary general, the state-run Mehr News agency reported.

BRENT crude oil prices broke the $100 a barrel mark for the first time in more than two years following fears that the civil unrest in Egypt would block the Suez Canal.

Vienna: Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries President Germanico Pinto said the group expects oil prices to stabilise as crude recovers from a slump in demand caused by the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Oil prices today climbed above $70 a barrel amid further signs that a global economic recovery will boost demand.

Oil prices fell to four-and-a-half year lows today as investor pessimism over global crude demand outweighed the largest-ever production cut by oil producing cartel Opec.

Oil prices are retreating from earlier gains in Asia, after Opec vowed to abide by its quotas but decided not to take the more dramatic step of slashing production targets.

Oil prices fell to their lowest level in four months today as the threat from a weaker-than-expected Hurricane Gustav faded.

World energy needs will rise by more than 50% by 2030 but adequate oil reserves, conservation and new methods of recovery mean supply will keep pace with demand, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said today.

Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil production by 200,000 barrels a day next month, the kingdom's oil minister told United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

Faced with record-high oil prices, the world’s leading economies and oil consumers have pledged greater investment in energy efficiency and green technologies to control their spiralling thirst for petroleum.