Oil edges up as OPEC+ seeks to break impasse over supply | Reuters

Oil edges up as OPEC+ seeks to break impasse over supply | Reuters

Oil prices were slightly up on Monday with investors and traders awaiting crucial talks by OPEC+ following disagreement over output within the group that could lead to major producers pumping up volumes to grab market share.

Brent crude was up 15 cents, or 0.2%, at $76.32 a barrel by 0558 GMT, after slipping 1 cent last week, the first weekly decline in six. U.S. oil gained 12 cents, or 0.5%, to $75.28 a barrel, having risen 1.5% last week, the sixth consecutive week of gains for the contract.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, voted on Friday to increase production by about 2 million barrels a day from August to December 2021 and to extend the remaining output cuts to the end of 2022, but objections from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prevented an agreement. read more

It was a rare public disagreement between members of the group, with national interests increasingly diverging, which is impacting OPEC+ policy as oil users want more crude as their economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Failing to come to a deal may provide some brief upside to the market," ING Economics said in a note.