UPDATE 7-Oil prices set for 10% weekly jump on U.S., Norway outages

* Norway union, oil firms to meet mediator on Friday
* Norway strike could cut 934,000 boepd if extends to Oct.
14
* Hurricane halts 92% of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil output
* Pelosi, Mnuchin to hold talks on COVID-19 relief package
Friday
* JP Morgan- OPEC could reverse planned easing of oil cuts
in 2021
* Coming Up: U.S. oil rig count from Baker Hughes at 1 p.m.
ET

(Adds latest prices, fresh quotes; Changes dateline from
LONDON)
By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed
on Friday but both benchmarks were on track for a 10% weekly
gain, their biggest since June, on the back of supply cuts
caused by a hurricane in the U.S. Gulf Coast and a strike of
offshore workers in Norway.
Brent futures LCOc1 rose 18 cents, or 0.4%, to $43.52 a
barrel by 11:56 a.m. EDT (1556 GMT), while U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose 14 cents, or 0.3%, to
$41.33.
Both contracts were on track for weekly gains of about 10%
this week, their first increase in three weeks.
Prices turned from slightly negative to slightly positive
following news that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she and
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin planned to hold talks later in
the day amid ongoing negotiations for further COVID-19 federal
aid package. Pelosi said she hopes the Democrats and the administration
can reach a deal soon.
In Norway, oil workers could end their 10-day strike later
on Friday if a set of new proposals from the oil industry proves
satisfactory, the head of the Lederne trade union told Reuters.
An escalation of the strike could almost triple the existing
outage if no solution is reached by Oct. 14, taking the total
capacity cut to about 934,000 barrels of oil equivalents per
day. Hurricane Delta, meanwhile, has shut 1.67 million barrels
per day, or 92%, of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil output, the most
since 2005 during Hurricane Katrina. "We believe we are soon in for an oil price correction when
the Norway strike is resolved and when the hurricane in the U.S.
goes away ... These $40+ price levels are as fragile as glass,"
Rystad's Head of Oil Markets, Bjornar Tonhaugen, said.
Looking ahead, JP Morgan said that a worsening global oil
demand outlook due to a potential rise in coronavirus cases this
winter would likely prompt the Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reverse a planned easing of oil
cuts in 2021, with Saudi Arabia offering deeper cuts below its
current quota.