Oil futures rose early Wednesday to trade above $41 a barrel. Crude oil for March delivery, the new front-month contract, gained 78 cents, or 2%, to $41.62 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. "This morning, front-month crude contracts on both Brent and WTI [West Texas Intermediate] were higher amid hopes OPEC will succeed in cutting production close to their quota, while the other contracts were lower causing the curve to flatten somewhat amid fears the global economies will take much longer to recover than previously expected and hence weaken demand further," said Nimit Khamar, an analyst at Sucden Financial Research.
