Oil rises above $63 on prospects of OPEC cut

LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) Oil prices climbed above $63 on Friday on prospects that OPEC would cut production again next week as global inventories remained abundant.

U.S. crude rose 75 cents at $63.24 a barrel at 1130 GMT. London Brent crude traded $1.12 higher at $63.69.

A senior OPEC delegate told Reuters that there was a ''strong possibility'' the group would trim output further when it meets next Thursday in Nigeria.

''The trend right now is to do a cut -- look at the statements from all the ministers,'' he said. ''Everybody knows that stock levels are higher than they should be.'' OPEC agreed in October to reduce output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Nov. 1.

Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and key OPEC member, views current prices as acceptable.

''Our oil minister has publicly said we will accept $60,'' said Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States.

Some analysts believe OPEC needs to cut production to accomplish this.

''They will need to cut at least 500,000 barrels per day if they want prices to stay above $60,'' said Ken Hasegawa, a manager at Himawari CX, Japan's largest commodities futures broker. ''The supply side is too strong right now.'' U.S. crude stocks were near their highest since 1991 for this time of year.

The market also found support from a sharp fall in the Brent loading schedule for January.

The Shell-operated Brent crude oil stream was scheduled to load 139,000 barrels per day in January, down nearly half from the previous month's 268,000 bpd.

Traders attributed the decline to poor production and demand demand for January cargoes.

''At year-end, most participants wish to load within December 2006 instead of forwarding it into January,'' one trader said.

Shell officials had no immediate comment.

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