LONDON: Oil prices rebounded Friday above 71 dollars a barrel on speculation the OPEC crude producers' cartel could cut production at an emergency meeting next week, traders said.
Crude futures had tumbled on Thursday and have plunged by more than six percent over the week as fears of a global recession raised expectations of a prolonged slowdown to energy demand.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, rose by 1.49 dollars to 71.34 dollars a barrel on Friday.
The contract had fallen by 4.69 dollars to 69.85 on Thursday, the first time the benchmark contract closed below the 70-dollar level since August 2007.
London's Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December rose 1.31 dollars to 69.15 dollars a barrel on Friday. The November contract expired on Thursday after diving to a 17-month low at 65.45.
OPEC said on Thursday that it would hold an extraordinary meeting earlier than expected next Friday -- instead of in November -- to discuss the global financial crisis and its impact on the oil market.
"The threat of an OPEC cut at its meeting next week has lifted oil," said BetOnMarkets.com analyst David Evans in London on Friday.
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"Oil has been in a tailspin as worries of a full-fledged recession intensifies. We believe that oil prices have hit their lowest and could only go higher from here," added the analyst.
The 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps about 40 percent of global crude supplies, has not indicated whether production levels would be altered at its meeting.
