Oil prices are almost $20 below July's $78.40 peak

US light, sweet crude climbed 33 cents to $59.13 per barrel while Brent crude climbed 34 cents to $59.32.

Opec president, also the oil minister of Nigeria, Edmond Daukoru said he had "no doubt" there would be cuts made.

But a decision last month to cut production to try to bolster weakening prices has yet to be fully implemented.

Opec decided to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from the start of November.

Rising stocks

A mild US winter and larger stocks of heating oil have meant prices have not climbed.

Markets are also reacting less dramatically to geopolitical factors - such as risks in Nigeria and the fear of sanctions against Iran - than they did earlier in the year.

Oil prices have been steady around the $58 to $62-a-barrel price since October - having tumbled sharply from a record high of $78.40 a barrel in mid-July.

US government figures released in mid-November showed that inventories of crude oil were 13.8 million barrels higher than a year ago, and above the typical amount for this time of year.