Oil prices rose to above $46 a barrel Monday in Asia. Benchmark crude for April delivery rose 61 cents to $46.13 a barrel by midafternoon in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil prices rose $1.91 on Friday to settle at $45.52. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plans to meet March 15 in Vienna, and some of the group's leaders have said a production cut is likely, according to a report of Associated Press. Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari was quoted by the official IRNA news agency Sunday saying OPEC members have «almost» completely complied with the 4.2 million barrels a day of output quota reductions announced since September. Nozari also said OPEC should coordinate supply policy with non-OPEC producers. In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery rose 1.75 cents to $1.35 a gallon, while heating oil gained 1.36 cents to $1.24 a gallon. Natural gas for April delivery was up 1 cent at $3.96 per 1,000 cubic feet. Brent prices rose 28 cents to $45.13 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
