Oil futures finished higher Tuesday, as traders continued to weigh the likelihood of a production freeze agreement by OPEC next month, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
September West Texas Intermediate crude climbed by 84 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $46.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On London’s ICE Futures Exchange, October Brent crude, the global benchmark, added 88 cents, or 1.8%, to end trading at $49.23 a barrel.
Both WTI and Brent settled at their highest levels in more than a month.
Last week, OPEC said that it will meet informally at an Algiers energy conference next month to discuss stabilization of the oil market. The world’s two largest crude oil producers—Saudi Arabia and Russia—have indicated their support for such an output limit.
On Tuesday, Iran said it hasn’t made any decision to join the meeting and doesn’t expect to reach output levels its country has previously said are required before Iran can take part in a production pact, according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal.
“It is encouraging that Saudi Arabia has flagged its intention, but how many times have we heard the same rhetoric?” said Aaron Lynch, a commodities analyst at optionsXpress.
Meanwhile, September natural gas on the New York Mercantile Exchange added 2.7 cents, or 1%, to $2.617 per million British thermal units.
