Oil up as investors await OPEC production decision

By Sibel Morrow and Duygu Alhan

Oil prices increased on Monday over supply worries ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of OPEC-producing countries on Wednesday, while improving factory activity in China also contributed to price rises.

International benchmark crude Brent traded at $92.56 per barrel at 11.08 a.m. local time (0808 GMT), a 0.39% gain from the closing price of $92.20 a barrel in the previous trading session on Friday.

The American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at the same time at $91.28 per barrel, up 0.54% from Friday’s close of $90.79 per barrel.

Oil prices rallied during patchy early Asian trade over lingering uncertainties as market players focused on the upcoming OPEC group’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) on Wednesday.

“OPEC+ JMMC is likely to recommend that production cuts are maintained at current levels, due to the uncertain economic outlook, and despite a clearly tightening supply backdrop, with weekly US EIA (Energy Information Administration) inventories likely to show inventories remain very low,” ADM Investor Services' Chief Global Economist Marc Ostwald said in an e-mailed note.

A rebound in China’s industrial data for September also boosted prices.

According to official data released on Sunday, China's factory activity increased in September for the first time in six months, adding to a growing number of indicators that the world's second-largest economy is becoming more stable.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday disclosed an increase in China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) to 50.2, exceeding expectations.