Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a six-week high above $98 a barrel on speculation OPEC will curb production and refinery disruptions may limit fuel supplies.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, due to meet on March 5, may cut production as winter heating demand wanes, oil ministers from Algeria and Iran said in the past week. Gasoline jumped after an explosion yesterday shut Alon USA Energy Inc.'s Big Spring, Texas, refinery.

``The most important thing that could happen is potentially they could cut'' at the March gathering, said Mike Wittner, head of oil research at Societe Generale SA in London. ``There's a good chance they could rollover formal quotas, but quietly start cutting.''

Crude oil for March delivery rose as much as $2.85, or 3 percent, from its Feb. 15 close to $98.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the highest intraday price since Jan. 7. The contract traded at $98.02 at 1:50 p.m. London time.

Floor trading on the exchange was closed yesterday for the Presidents' Day holiday. Electronic trades made yesterday will be booked today for settlement because of the holiday.

Brent crude for April settlement rose as much as $2.15, or 2.3 percent, to $97.06 on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract traded for $96.80 a barrel at 1:52 p.m. London time.

OPEC won't increase production as demand may drop by 1.8 million barrels a day in the second quarter, because of the U.S. economic slowdown, refinery shutdowns for maintenance and lower fuel consumption as winter comes to an end, Chakib Khelil, the group's president said on Feb. 13.

The fire in part of Alon's 70,000 barrel-a-day refinery has been contained, a company spokesman said in a telephone interview yesterday.

The explosion started in a chemical-making unit and ignited fires in storage tanks, injuring four workers, Alon said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

To contact the reporters on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 19, 2008 08:55 EST