LONDON — Oil-price swings have doubled this year as unrest spreads through the Middle East, source of one-third of the global crude supply, hampering producer and consumer efforts to stabilize the world’s biggest commodity market.

As officials from more than 90 nations — including Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman — gather in Riyadh today to seek ways of curbing fluctuations, oil’s 20-day historical volatility has risen to 29.4, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was at 12.6, an all-time low, at the end of December.

“Prices gyrate wildly with each new headline,” said Mike Fitzpatrick, Energy Overview editor in New York and a former futures broker at MF Global.

In response to rising prices, OPEC is already pumping the most oil since agreeing to production cuts in December 2008. U.S. inventories are 6.4 percent higher than their five-year average, setting up the possibility of a price plunge once winter demand eases.

Representatives meeting in the Saudi capital today will include producers in the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the 28 consuming countries of the International Energy Agency, as well as China, India and Brazil. Participants at the International Energy Forum will approve a charter aimed at finding mechanisms to stabilize energy markets and improve the collection and publication of supply, demand and price data.

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