By Grant Smith Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose for the first time in three days, recovering earlier losses after the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped in November. Oil rebounded after the Labor Department said that payrolls fell by 11,000 workers, less than the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The jobless rate declined to 10 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister said in Cairo today that “right now the price is O.K.” and that crude inventories are falling. “The positive surprise on the unemployment front has led oil prices up,” said Eugen Weinberg, senior commodities analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “But the amount of oil that is in storage, both onshore and offshore, is likely to keep prices under pressure in the medium term.” Crude oil for January delivery rose as much as 73 cents, or 1 percent, to $77.19 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was trading for $76.69 a barrel as of 1:54 p.m. London time. It earlier dropped as much as 1.2 percent to $75.57. Futures, which lost 54 percent in 2008, have gained 70 percent this year. “Right now the price is O.K., between $70 and $80, close to the target,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, responsible for 40 percent of global supply, will review production targets in Angola on Dec. 22. -- With assistance from Yee Kai Pin in Singapore. Editors: Will Kennedy, Jonas Bergman. To contact the reporters on this story: Grant Smith in London at gsmith52@bloomberg.net

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