Oil rose slightly on Friday as the dollar slumped following bleak employment data in the United States, the world's top energy consumer. US crude settled up 27 cents to $61.04 a barrel off earlier highs of $62.82 a barrel. London Brent crude for December settled down 8 cents at $57.35 a barrel. Despite Friday's gains, prices are down nearly ten percent this week, having fallen $6.77. Oil prices have dived nearly 60 percent from record highs of over $147 dollars per barrel in July, as the global economic crisis has hit the wider economy, shrinking demand in major consumer nations. The US dollar on Friday eased against a basket of currencies after government data showed US employers cut payrolls by 240,000 in October. In addition, data showed September registered the biggest monthly loss in jobs in nearly seven years. Oil's tumble from July highs has already spurred OPEC to rein in supply from Nov. 1, and some members of the cartel are talking of reducing production further. Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez has said OPEC should act again. “We say (a new cut should be) at least a million,” he told Reuters on Thursday. But Shokri Ghanem, Libya's top oil official, said the group was not actively considering cutting output again. OPEC is due to meet next on Dec. 17. “Crude oil futures, like the stock market, are hanging in there. People came in today amid worries that the jobless data would crush the markets, but they haven't.”
