NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Crude oil surged more than 9 percent to settle above 54 U.S. dollars a barrel on Monday as OPEC may further cut production and U.S. stocks rallied on government's rescue plan of Citigroup.

    Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 4.57 dollars to settle at 54.50 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Price hit 55.30 dollars a barrel.

    OPEC President Chakib Khelil said Monday in Vienna, Austria, that an output cut of more than 1 million barrels would be needed to support the current oil market. The cartel will meet for informal talks in Cairo on Nov. 29 and members including Venezuela and Iran have been calling for further production cut.

    Oil also gained strong support from U.S. stocks which rallied after the U.S. government decided to pump 20 billion dollars into Citigroup and the President-elect Barack Obama announced his economic team.

    The dollar weakened against other major currencies, which also contributed to the rise of the crude price.

    In London, Brent for January delivery rose 4.74 dollars to settle at 53.93 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.