Crude oil futures rebounded on Tuesday after a report suggested that Iran was willing to work with OPEC to support market stabilization, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October West Texas Intermediate crude added 69 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $48.10 a barrel after falling under $47 a barrel.
On the London ICE Futures Exchange, October Brent crude, the global benchmark, tacked on 80 cents, or 1.6%, to end trading at $49.96 a barrel.
“Looks like Iran is potentially getting into cahoots with some of the OPEC nations to potentially freeze production level,” said Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group. “Russia is [apparently] all about the freeze as well,” assuming OPEC reaches an agreement.
Oil prices have posted weekly gains for three weeks as investors expect OPEC to freeze production.
The American Petroleum Institute will issue its weekly report on petroleum inventories late Tuesday and the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s data come out early Wednesday. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts are looking for an increase of 200,000 barrels for crude stockpiles and a drop of 1.6 million for gasoline supplies for the week ending August 19.
Meanwhile, September natural was rose 8.2 cents, or 3.1%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange and settled at $2.761 per million British thermal units.