Oil holds steady as Russia reaffirms commitment to output cuts

TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices were steady on Monday,
holding on to strong gains last week, after Russia affirmed its
commitment to a deal with OPEC producers to keep production in
check and support prices.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 1 cent at $62.01 a barrel by
0055 GMT, having logged a weekly gain of more than 4% last week,
its best weekly gain since Sept. 20.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down
4 cents at $56.62 a barrel, having risen more than 5% last week,
also the biggest weekly increase since Sept. 20.
Russia's energy ministry said on Friday it is continuing
close cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC oil producers
to enhance market stability and predictability. The statement came a day after Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian
oil producer, Rosneft ROSN.MM , said the September attacks on
Saudi oil assets created doubts over its reliability as a
supplier. The attacks temporarily shut down around half of the
kingdom's oil output. "(Russian) oil companies have wanted to get busy stealing
oil market share from the Saudis and others for a few years now
but ... Moscow has them in a bit of a box and is driving the
bus," said Greg McKenna, strategist at McKenna Macro.
OPEC+, an alliance of OPEC members and other major producers
including Russia, has since January implemented a deal to cut
output by 1.2 million bpd to support the market.
The pact runs to March 2020 and the producers meet to review
policy on Dec. 5-6.
Prices were also supported by a statement from the United
States and China that they are close to finalizing some parts of
a trade agreement after high level discussions. Elsewhere, a suggestion by U.S. President Donald Trump that
Exxon Mobil or another U.S. oil company could operate Syrian oil
fields drew rebukes from legal and energy experts.