Oil swung between gains and losses as concern that Europe will be unable to tame its debt crisis countered Iran’s calls for production cuts before an OPEC meeting this week. Futures were little changed after falling 1.5 percent last week. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said euro-area policy makers will focus on implementing an accord to strengthen budget rules as quickly as possible. Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should trim output to accommodate the return of Libyan crude and gains in Iraqi supply. “Oil is in a range, a break through $100 sees it back to $102,� said Jonathan Barratt, a managing director of Commodity Broking Services Pty in Sydney, who predicts OPEC will keep production quotas unchanged at the Dec. 14 meeting. “The European package was something that was expected but there are concerns about implementation and enforceability.� Crude for January delivery was at $99.31 a barrel, down 10 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 2:48 p.m. Sydney time. The contract gained $1.07, or 1.1 percent, to $99.41 on Dec. 9. Prices are 8.7 percent higher this year after climbing 15 percent in 2010. Brent oil for January settlement was at $108.44 a barrel, down 18 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract’s premium to West Texas Intermediate was at $9.13, compared with $9.21 on Dec. 9 and a record $27.88 on Oct. 14. Bullish Bets Hedge funds and other large speculators increased long positions, or wagers that New York oil prices will rise, 4.1 percent in the seven days ended Dec. 6, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report on Dec. 9. The net-long positions increased for a second week amid rising tensions with Iran, the second-largest producer in OPEC. Iran will propose that members of OPEC, which increased output this year in the absence of Libyan exports, should scale back production, Qasemi said, according to the state-run Mehr news agency yesterday. Libya pumped 500,000 barrels a day on average in November, up from a low of 45,000 barrels in the midst of the rebellion against former leader Muammar Qaddafi. Iraq’s daily output last month reached 2.7 million barrels, according to Bloomberg estimates, that’s the highest since the U.S. invasion in 2003. ‘Regain Trust’ Euro-area policy makers will focus on implementing last week’s pact to strengthen budget rules and provide an additional 200 billion euros ($267 billion) to the euro war chest as quickly as possible, Schaeuble told ARD television yesterday. Oil in New York has technical support along the middle Bollinger Band on the daily chart, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This indicator is around $97.82 a barrel today. Buy orders tend to be clustered near chart-support levels. To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Sharples in Melbourne at bsharples@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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