oil prices
Brent Crude Prices Fall to Five-Year Lows at $57 Despite Libyan Output DisruptionReuters

Brent crude prices increased 2 percent to $63 on Monday as investors believed that prices would remain around $60 for the rest of the year.

Brent rose 2.4 percent to $62.86, while U.S. crude was up 2.3 percent at $58.45 a barrel, according to Reuters. Analysts say that while this is a slight improvement, further larger jumps were unlikely this December.

"The rebound may not be strong enough to extend to $71.37, most likely it could end at a lower level," said Reuters analyst Wang Tao, adding Brent prices could drop to $41.99 per barrel if production was not curtailed in the next three months.

Since June this year, prices slipped 30 percent and the market was oversupplied by about 2 million barrels a day. Oil prices are now 40 percent below a year ago and experts say if the oversupply is not controlled, prices could reach recession levels sooner than later.

In November, the Organization of Petrol Exporting Countries (OPEC) met in Vienna, Austria, to discuss a possible production cut. But the cartel decided against a cap much to the dismay of oil producers and investors.

The cartel, being the largest producer of oil in the world, said that the non-OPEC countries would have to cooperate to control the situation.

At a recent energy conference in Abu Dhabi, OPEC members stood their ground on the decision to not reduce oil output. Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister of Saudi Arabia blamed the non-OPEC countries for failing to control the spiraling oil prices. 

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries sought to bring back balance to the market, but the lack of co-operation from other producers outside Opec and the spread of misleading information and speculation led to the continuation of the drop in prices. Let the most efficient producers produce," Ali al-Naimi said at Sunday's energy conference.

Saudi Arabia defended its decision to not impose any cuts on oil production and said they would stick to it.

Commenting on speculations of an emergency meeting, Ali al-Omair, the oil minister of Kuwait said: "OPEC will not cut. Nothing will happen until June and there is no emergency meeting."

"I don't think we need to cut. We gave a chance to others and they were not willing to do so," he added referring to non-OPEC oil producers, according to Yahoo News.

"The wo‎rld has witnessed a big decline in prices which has and will constitute a big economic burden. One of the big reasons is the irresponsible production of some producers from outside OPEC," said United Arab Emirates oil minister Suhail Bin Mohammed al-Mazroui. 

OPEC's Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badr told Reuters that the world needs to ride out the oil slump and prices should see a rebound by the end of next year.

"We hope the price would rebound by the end of the second half of 2015. We can't see the market now, we have to wait until the end of the second half of 2015 to see how the market [will] react to these low prices."