Oil prices have increased marginally but gains were largely restricted due to investors being still apprehensive about OPEC's decision to curb excess oil production in its meeting scheduled next week.
International Brent crude oil futures gained 11 cents to reach $49.23 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures CLc1 increased 12 cents to $48.15 a barrel.
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Petromatrix consultancy official Olivier Jakob was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Yesterday you saw the price action, it closed close to unchanged. It's uncertain whether OPEC can do a deal. The market is divided in its opinion… that's why the market is not moving much.”
Traders expect that OPEC may reach an agreement to cut production, although the reduction would not be sufficient to eliminate global surplus, reported the news agency.
The success of the OPEC deal depends if Iraq and Iran agree to reduce oil production, with concerns that these countries may not back the deal.
In September, OPEC agreed to drop the total output to 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day.
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By GlobalDataInvestors are now looking at US Government data on stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Under the latest Reuters poll, US crude inventories are expected to grow by 700,000 barrels.
