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Oil market watchers stay stubbornly bearish

New York - Oil pessimists are sticking to their guns even after the market rallied against them in the aftermath of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) output deal.

Eighteen of 32, of analysts, traders and brokers surveyed by Bloomberg on Thursday were bearish. That’s up from 50% of respondents a week earlier.

Futures in New York have jumped by more than $5 a barrel since OPEC agreed last week to cut production, climbing above $50 for the first in over three months.

OPEC, which pumped at a record in September, is scheduled to decide on member quotas at a meeting in Vienna on November 30.

Prices have also rallied as US crude supplies fell 26.1 million barrels to 499.7 million in the past five weeks, according to Energy Information Administration data.

"There’s a lot of scepticism about this OPEC agreement," said Paul Crovo, a Philadelphia-based oil and equity analyst at PNC Capital Advisors.

"There’s not trust that anything will be enforced because they have such a spotty history of compliance."

Saudi Arabia led OPEC to adopt a pump-at-will policy in November 2014, which led to the abandonment of the group’s production target.

Members routinely exceeded their quotas, which sent global inventories higher as prices dropped.

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