Article: Oil Prices Briefly Surpass $61 a Barrel

WASHINGTON - Oil prices briefly rose past $61 a barrel Monday on expectations that OPEC may be plotting its first output cut in nearly two years.

Forecasts calling for colder weather in the Midwest also helped to push energy futures higher, analysts said.

Following a late-summer freefall of almost 25 percent, oil prices have bounced around the $60 level in the past week. Traders must weigh rhetoric from some OPEC members calling for output cuts against denials by Saudi Arabia, the cartel's largest producer, that a deal to reduce production exists.

OPEC is not scheduled to meet until December.

Some analysts are skeptical that members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting ...

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