October US Light crude futures on the after-hours ACCESS were last traded at $21.87 per barrel at 0820 GMT, up a slight three cents from its close in New York.

This offset most of the four-cent fall in regular New York trade on Monday.

Traders said the market outlook was firm, following indications by major oil producers that they would not relax the current supply curbs that have lifted prices to 22-month highs.

A senior Saudi oil official said on Monday that Saudi Arabia wanted to maintain the output cuts until March 2000, as initially planned.

``Saudi Arabia and OPEC believe that the cuts should be maintained until March 2000. If we raise the production, prices will flip and the gains that have been made will evaporate,'' the Saudi official said.

The accord to reduce output, reached by Organisation of Petroleum ExportingCountries (OPEC) in March, was designed to last a year, and has spurred a six-month rally in prices.

Key OPEC member Iran also said the cartel would keep to its production cuts.

``OPEC has decided to keep the cuts until March 2000 and the (OPEC) monitoring committee has endorsed that position,'' said Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili.

OPEC is scheduled to meet on September 22, a meeting that will be watched closely by the market for any moves to adjust the output ceiling.