Oil prices pushed further above $30 on Monday ahead of this week’s OPEC producer cartel meeting, which is expected to tighten crude supplies as fuel demand dips to the lowest point in the year.US Light crude in New York rose 26 cents to $30.81 a barrel, the highest closing price in nearly three weeks. Trade in Brent crude on London’s International Petroleum Exchange was closed for the Easter holiday.The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold an emergency meeting in Vienna on Thursday — called after oil dropped about 30 per cent in a month when the Middle East oil flows escaped severe disruption from the Iraq war.‘‘We expect oil prices will remain well-supported given recent statements from member countries indicating a desire to curtail physical supply,’’ said Matthew Warburton of UBS Warburg investment bank in a note.Prices rebounded last week as Iran called on OPEC, which controls over half of oil exports worldwide, to cut official production quotas, warning that a failure to rein in supply could trigger a price collapse. Other OPEC members have said that tighter compliance with official output limits would probably be enough to avoid a supply glut.OPEC pumped more than 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) over its self-imposed 24.5 million bpd production ceiling in March, as it raised output to counter the loss of Iraqi exports and earlier disruption from a strike in Venezuela.Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh on Monday said OPEC’s quota-busters should be the first to restrain output. ‘‘All those that have increased their output in an unusual way, they should also be the first to decrease their production,’’ an Iranian newspaper quoted Zanganeh as saying.Oil prices have risen back above $30 — the level that some economists warn can hurt economic growth — on the month-long absence of Iraq’s crude exports, which have been halted since the start of the US-led offensive.
