2018.10.0115:36:00UTC+00Oil Futures Hit Near 4-year Closing High On Supply Concerns

Crude oil futures rose to their highest settlement price in nearly four years on Monday, lifted by news about the U.S., Canada and Mexico reaching a trade agreement and on declining oil exports from Iran.

Reports about supply disruptions in Venezuela too aided crude's uptick.

The U.S. sanctions on Iran will commence next month. With OPEC members not keen on increasing output, it remains to be seen how the oil producing nations will plan to fix the demand - supply gap.

After a meeting on September 23, OPEC members and top non-OPEC oil producers said they were in no rush to increase output.

According to reports, the U.S. President Donald Trump called Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Saturday to discuss ways to maintain sufficient supply post implementation of sanctions against Iranian oil.

Last week, the U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry reportedly said that the U.S. will not open up its strategic petroleum reserves to offset the decrease in production post sanctions on Iranian oil.

Crude oil futures for November ended up $2,05, or 2.8%, at $75.30 a barrel, the highest settlement since November 2014.

On Friday, crude oil futures settled up $1.13, or 1.6%, at $73.25 a barrel.

Last week EIA's report showed an unexpected jump in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week ended September 21. The data showed crude stockpiles to have risen by nearly 1.9 million barrels in the week, as against an expected drop of over 2 million barrels. The report also said U.S. crude production hit a record 11.1 million bpd in the week.