Oil held gains in Asian trading before an OPEC meeting this week that could decide to tighten supplies further.
Futures in New York rose 0.2%, after advancing 1.4% on Monday in their biggest daily gain in more than a week. Iraq said that the so-called OPEC+ group may shrink output again, contradicting other cartel members insisting deeper cuts are not on the cards. Just one out of 35 analysts and traders in a global surveyby Bloomberg expect OPEC and its allies will agree on a further reduction when they meet in Vienna later this week.
West Texas Intermediate for January delivery rose 8 cents to $56.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:43 a.m. Sydney time. Jan. WTI settled up 79 cents at $55.96 a barrel on Monday.
Brent for February settlement rose 43 cents to $60.92 on London’s ICE Futures Europe Exchange.
Source : Bloomberg