OPEC Meeting Kicks Off
Oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and officials from other major global producers, most importantly Russia, will meet in Vienna to decide whether to extend their current production agreement beyond a March 2018 deadline.
A closed session of just OPEC ministers and the secretary general is scheduled to begin at 1100GMT (6AM ET), according to the agenda posted on OPEC's website. This will be followed at 1400GMT (9AM ET) by a combined meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC ministers and delegates.
After that, there will be a joint news conference by the president of the OPEC conference, Russia's energy minister and the OPEC secretary general.
Most market analysts expect the oil cartel to extend output cuts for a further nine months until the end of next year, but the terms were so far unclear, as Russia has sent mixed signals about whether it will back the move.
Under the original terms of the deal, OPEC and 11 other non-OPEC producers, led by Russia, agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day for the first six months of 2017. The agreement was extended in May of this year for a period of nine months until March 2018 in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.
Oil prices inched higher, but prices were likely to stay volatile ahead of the meeting's outcome. U.S. crude futures rose 28 cents, or about 0.5%, to $57.59 a barrel, while Brent was at $62.93, up 40 cents, or 0.7%, from its last close.