Oil extends gains, Saudi minister sees market balance

TOKYO, July 4 (Reuters) - Crude prices extended gains on
Monday in Asia, supported by comments from the Saudi energy
minister saying the oil market is heading towards balance.
London Brent crude for September delivery LCOc1 was up 17
cents at $50.52 a barrel by 2247 GMT on Sunday, after settling
up 64 cents at $50.35 on Friday.
NYMEX crude for August delivery CLc1 was up 5 cents at
$49.04 a barrel, after closing up 66 cents, or 1.4 percent, on
Friday. There will be no West Texas Intermediate crude
settlement on Monday as U.S. financial and commodity markets are
closed for the Independence Day holiday.
The energy minister of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil
exporter, and the secretary general of OPEC agree that the
global oil market is heading towards a balance and that prices
are starting to settle, according to comments carried by Saudi
state news agency SPA.
U.S. drillers last week added oil rigs for a fourth week in
five, according to a closely followed report Friday, in the best
month of producers returning to the well pad since August that
signalled a near-two year rout in drilling may have ended.

The Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that has been
carrying out attacks on Nigerian oil facilities in the past few
months, claimed responsibility on Sunday for five new attacks in
the southern energy hub since Friday.
Attacks in the Niger Delta have pushed Nigerian crude
production to 30-year lows, although the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said last week that output was
rising because of repairs and a fall-off in attacks.
Russian oil output stood at 10.84 million barrels per day
(bpd) in June, up from 10.83 bpd in May, Energy Ministry data
showed on Saturday.
Norwegian offshore oil workers and employers signed a new
wage deal on Saturday, avoiding a strike that would have cut the
output from western Europe's top oil and gas producer by about 6
percent, employers and unions said.
Money managers cut their net long U.S. crude futures and
options positions in the week to June 28, the U.S. Commodity
Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Friday.