Oil falls ahead of OPEC meeting
Crude prices head toward $61 a barrel; U.S. markets closed for Memorial Day holiday.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Oil prices fell toward $61 a barrel on Monday ahead of OPEC's meeting in Vienna, where the group was widely expected to agree to hold output steady.
News Nigerian militants breached an oil pipeline in the Niger Delta failed to push prices higher.
U.S. energy firm Chevron said on Monday the attack on its pipeline shut down 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production.
U.S. crude futures for July delivery fell by 39 cents to $61.27 a barrel by 17:12 GMT.
London Brent crude shed 56 cents to $60.22.
U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. NYMEX floor trading resumes on Tuesday.
Oil prices rallied around 9.5 percent last week, boosted by a spate of U.S. refinery problems and unrest in major oil exporter Nigeria, and are nearly double the lows they hit in December.
They have been also drawn strength from OPEC supply curbs totalling 4.2 million barrels per day since last September, as well as from market sentiment the economic recession is easing and demand for energy will revive.
Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are widely expected to make no change to oil supply when they meet in Vienna on Thursday, as higher prices have helped to mitigate their concerns about overflowing fuel inventories and dwindling demand.
Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC would "probably stay the course" as he forecast a pick-up in demand and prices eventually rising toward $75 a barrel.
Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said all OPEC members agreed there was no need for an output cut at Thursday's meeting.
"I think that everybody is in agreement," Khelil told Reuters at the G8 energy summit in Rome.