* Brent above $50; technical buying support seen -traders
* Russia, Saudi to keep consulting on oil market - minister
* OPEC, non-OPEC should work jointly against oversupply
-Badri
* U.S. crude output to fall through mid-2016 - EIA
(Updates market activity and comments to U.S. session; changes
byline and previous LONDON dateline)
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Crude prices jumped about 4
percent on Tuesday after No. 1 oil consumer the United States
cut output forecasts and Russia, Saudi Arabia and other big
producers signaled joint action to support the market.
A weakening dollar added support for oil, aside from bets
that the U.S. oil rig count could tumble again this week after
last week's unexpectedly sharp decline of 26 rigs. USD/
RIG/U
Brent LCOc1 , the global benchmark for crude, was up $2, or
4 percent, at $51.25 a barrel by 10:58 a.m. EDT (1458 GMT).
Traders also cited technical buying for Brent at above $50 a
barrel as it headed for its first three-day gain in a stretch
after Monday's rise of more than 2 percent and Friday's climb of
nearly 1 percent.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 , the U.S. crude
benchmark, rose $1.64, or 3.6 percent, at $47.90.
"We have reduced the probability of a return to the $37-38
area per nearby WTI," said Jim Ritterbusch of oil consultancy
Ritterbusch & Associates in North Wabash, Chicago. "We will
maintain a long standing view that price declines below this
support level are virtually off of the table."
On Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration
projected in its monthly forecast that the country's crude
output will fall through mid-2016. The EIA also raised its 2016
world oil demand growth forecast to 100,000 barrels per day to
1.41 million bpd. ID:nEMN10KC48
Russia's energy minister said Russia and Saudi Arabia had
discussed the oil market in a meeting last week and would
continue to consult each other. ID:nL8N1261NE
"The market is possibly moving on speculation that OPEC and
non-OPEC countries will find an agreement to cooperate," said
Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank (XETRA:CBKG) in Frankfurt.
OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri at a conference in
London that OPEC and non-OPEC members should work together to
reduce the global supply glut. ID:nL8N1261GY
"There is one problem we are facing: the overhang," Badri
said, adding there were already signs of higher crude demand and
of a drop in supply growth from non-OPEC members.
The former head of U.S. shale producer EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) said at
the same conference that U.S. oil production growth would tail
off this month and start to decline early next year due to weak
prices. ID:nL9N0TS00G
Iran's crude oil sales were on track to slip to the lowest
in seven months as its main Asian customers were buying less
than before. ID:nL3N121210
The drop counters expectations that Iran's crude supplies to
the global market will rise sharply once nuclear-related
sanctions against the country are lifted.