MOSCOW(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose on speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is following through on its planned production cuts as colder U.S. weather boosts fuel consumption.

OPEC agreed in December to cut output by 500,000 barrels a day as of Feb. 1. That's on top of a reduction of 1.2 million barrels a day that went into effect in November. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's biggest producer, plans to trim output by an additional 158,000 barrels a day starting Feb. 1, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing an unidentified senior Saudi official.

Crude oil for March delivery rose 98 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $54.99 a barrel at 10:38 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are 20 percent lower than a year ago. Brent crude oil for March settlement increased 94 cents to $54.62 on the London-based ICE Futures exchange.

Prices fell when Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on Jan. 16 rejected calls from other OPEC members for an emergency meeting to discuss an additional reduction. OPEC's next regularly scheduled meeting is March 15 at its headquarters in Vienna, at which time oil ministers will discuss the level of crude oil production for the second quarter of the year. ``I don't think prices will go down; they will stabilize at around $50 a barrel,'' Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said Tuesday in an interview in the Algerian oil city of Hassi Messaoud. ``There shouldn't be another production cut.''

OPEC's December crude-oil production was 28.62 million barrels a day, a decline of 1.3 million barrels, or 4.3 percent, since July, according to Bloomberg News data.

``Where the price goes in coming weeks depends on how close OPEC comes to achieving its goals,'' Flynn said.

Falling temperatures are increasing demand for heating oil and natural gas.

Heating demand in the U.S. Northeast, where 80 percent of the nation's heating oil is used, will be 20 percent above normal in the next week, according to Weather Derivatives, a forecaster in Belton, Missouri.

Heating oil for February delivery rose 2.71 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $1.576 a gallon in New York. Natural gas for March delivery rose 39 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $7.309 per million British thermal units in New York.

``We're going to trade in Monday’s range until we see what Wednesday's numbers bring,'' said James Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Associates in Galena, Illinois, referring to the weekly U.S. government inventory report. ``The market is caught in the crosscurrents of two different forces. One is the weather and the other is the OPEC situation.''

Crude oil rose as high as $55.96 and fell as low as $53.75 during Monday’session.