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NYMEX Crude $ 41.74 UP $1.0000
NY Harbor ULSD $1.3851 UP $0.0038
NYMEX Gasoline $1.2386 DN $0.0003

NEWS
Oil futures finished higher Monday buoyed by news that output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries saw third consecutive monthly decline, as France’s airstrikes in Syria raised concerns over potential supply disruptions in the Middle East.

West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery added $1, or 2.5%, to settle at $41.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. January Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange tacked on 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $44.56 a barrel. OPEC oil production in October fell by 120,000 barrels a day from a month earlier, to its lowest level since May—marking a third straight monthly decline, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industrial officials and analysts released Monday. “The Platts survey is absolutely going to come across as bullish because the ‘new norm’ is for all of OPEC to be pumping at maximum capacity and you wouldn’t expect to see a monthly decline with policy like that,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor for The 7:00’s Report. Platts said the decline was led by output drops in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Saudi Arabia had previously voiced unwillingness to cut production as it fights for oil-market share. Output there has fallen by 350,000 barrels a day since July, Platts said. In the details of the release however, Richey pointed out that Saudi exports still increased and seasonality played a part in the headline number, while adverse weather influenced the drop in Iraqi output. The output pullback had “nothing to do with the cartel’s policy and until that changes, oil prices are likely to remain under pressure,” he said. WTI oil prices lost 8% last week—their largest one-week percentage drop since March. In a statement, Margaret McQuaile, senior correspondent for Platts said that while “OPEC output has now dropped over three consecutive months…it would be a mistake to think that this might signal a move away from the group’s market share strategy when ministers meet next month in Vienna.”

All signs, including an expected contraction in non-OPEC supply next year, “suggest that the likelihood of a policy change is pretty small,” she said. Meanwhile, traders continue to track developments tied to Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris. French war planes went into action on Sunday, conducting airstrikes on Islamic State’s stronghold in Syria, raising the risk of oil-supply disruptions in the region, a day after French President François Hollande vowed a “merciless” response to the attacks. For oil, however, “weekly U.S. production numbers continue to be an underlying driver of the market in the near term, as the U.S. remains the key ‘swing producer’ now,” said Richey.

The latest data from the Energy Information Administration released Thursday showed that U.S. oil production totaled 9.185 million barrels a day for the week ended Nov. 6, up 25,000 barrels.