US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $49.44 per barrel at 0108 GMT, up 11c from their last settlement.
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Some analysts believe oil prices can slowly meander higher.
“Iran expects fellow OPEC members to understand Tehran’s status which is trying to bring its market share and production level after years of draconian sanctions to the pre-sanctions levels”, Mehdi Asali told the SHANA news agency.
Those include declining output from US shale producers badly hit by low prices but also forest fires in Canada, militant attacks on pipelines in OPEC member Nigeria and declining output in Venezuela, also a member of the group.
Iran, for its part, reached crude oil output of nearly 3.6 million barrels per day in April-ramping up production far faster than experts had anticipated.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members gathering in Vienna on June 2 are expected to fall in with a Saudi Arabia-led policy focused on squeezing out rivals as oil’s recovery shows the strategy is working.
The oil market is “doing good”, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum resources, said on arrival in Vienna on Tuesday.
These events have thus eased the supply glut and caused crude oil prices to recover over 80% since the start of the year.
John England, vice-chairman, U.S. and Americas oil and gas leader for Deloitte, said the global oil surplus created by Opec overproduction and USA shale output left Opec in a tricky position.
“With South Africa’s weak economy, our concern is that even if oil prices moderate, further declines in the rand will mask the benefit”.
After the initial euphoria of crossing $50 per barrel milestone, oil prices had a jerky Monday as strong United States dollar pushed back its progress aided by the promise of resurgent Canadian oil supply and Iraq’s plan to raise its crude export target.
The economies of oil producers like Venezuela, Nigeria and Algeria have been badly hit by the oil price drop.
“We would expect that once prices get to around in the $60 range or so, that six, nine, 12 months after that, we’ll see USA production start to rebound”, Bordoff said. Total volume traded was 32% below the 100-day average.
This will be the first OPEC meeting that involves Saudi Arabia’s new Minister for Oil, Khalid al-Falih, which took the office from Ali al-Naimi earlier in May 2016. “So I think they’ve been less relevant”, England said.
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“The bulk of our technical indicators remain tilted in a bullish direction … with upside possibilities to the $52-52.50 areas still valid”, said Jim Ritterbusch of Chicago-based oil consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates.
