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Brent crude futures for January gained 65 cents, or 0.78%, to
$83.75 a barrel by 1210 GMT. The front-month Brent contract
expires later on Thursday.
The more liquid February contract was up 57 cents, or 0.69%, at
$83.45.
Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 55
cents, or 0.71%, to $78.41.
The OPEC+ producer group comprising the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including
Russia, is likely to agree to additional output cuts of more
than 1 million barrels per day (bpd), meeting delegates told
Reuters.
A continuation of Saudi Arabia's 1 million bpd voluntary cut is
expected to be supplemented by additional and smaller cuts from
other members, the delegates added.
Saudi Arabia's pledge to extend its voluntary cut would be
"really important and take out the risk of a collapse (in any
mooted deal)," said Investec analyst Callum Macpherson.
But investors will be waiting for a formal announcement from
Thursday's meeting and a breakdown of the additional cuts.
"Who will have to make the cuts? How long will they last?"
Macpherson added.
The OPEC+ meeting is scheduled to begin at 1400 GMT, after an
OPEC-only ministers meeting at 1100 GMT.
The meeting, being held on the same day as global leaders gather
in Dubai for the U.N. climate conference, was originally
scheduled for last week but was deferred because of
disagreements over output quotas for African producers.
Implementing additional cuts will send prices higher in the
immediate future, but the long-term impact is harder to predict,
said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.
Compliance will be an issue and the global oil balance is
probably much less tight than OPEC estimates, he said, citing
the latest commercial inventory data out of the United States
and the effect on demand from stubbornly high interest rates in
many major economies.
(Reporting by Robert Harvey and Natalie Grover in London and
Jeslyn Lerh in SingaporeAdditional reporting by Laura Sanicola
in WashingtonEditing by Miral Fahmy and David Goodman)
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