SINGAPORE (Nov 14): Brent crude edged above $78 a barrel on Friday but remained close to a four-year low because of concern over excess supply and uncertainty over whether oil cartel OPEC would cut production at a meeting in two weeks.

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi appeared to rule out a cut in output but other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are pushing for action to tackle the fall in prices when delegates meet in Vienna on Nov. 27. Oil prices have plunged 30 per cent since June.

Brent has fallen for eight weeks in a row, its longest weekly losing streak since records began in 1988, based on Reuters data. It has lost nearly 7 percent so far this week.

"We've got a period of very heightened volatility in the lead-up to the November 27 OPEC meeting," said Mark Keenan, head of commodities research in Asia at Societe Generale in Singapore.

Brent front-month crude futures rose to $78.10 a barrel as of 0317 GMT after the December forward contract expired on Thursday, when it settled down $2.46 at $77.92, a level not seen since September 2010. It had touched an intra-day low of $77.83.

U.S. crude for December delivery climbed 20 cents to $74.41 a barrel after closing down $2.97, or 3.9 percent, in the previous session.

"It was a pretty steep fall. One wouldn't be surprised by a market bounce in thin Asian markets," Keenan said.

Adding to oil glut worries, crude stocks at the key Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub climbed by a larger-than-expected 1.7 million barrels last week, the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration said on Thursday.

But U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly fell 1.7 million barrels in the week to Nov. 7, against analysts' expectations of a 750,000 barrel build in inventories, the EIA said.

The market was also keeping an eye on wider geopolitical issues.

The 120,000 barrel-a-day Hariga oil port in eastern Libya has reopened after state security guards ended a protest over unpaid wages, a port source said on Thursday, but the El Sharara oil field remains shut.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials have agreed to a deal over oil exports and civil service payments, which should ease tension between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq's finance minister said on Thursday.