Investing.com - Oil prices erased overnight gains during European hours on Monday, amid concerns that the upcoming meeting among major oil producers may not yield any action to reduce the global glut.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for December delivery shed 15 cents, or 0.3%, to $46.33 a barrel by 4:35AM ET (08:35GMT), after rising more than 1% to touch a session high of $46.97.
On Friday, London-traded Brent futures sank $1.73, or 3.59%, amid signs Saudi Arabia and Iran were making little progress in achieving preliminary agreement to freeze production.
Market players awaited the outcome of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries get-together on Wednesday to see whether a deal can be reached to limit production.
OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia and other big Middle East crude exporters, such as Iran and Iraq, will meet non-OPEC producer Russia at informal talks on the sidelines of an energy conference in Algeria from Monday through Wednesday.
According to market experts, chances that the meeting would yield any action to reduce the global glut appeared minimal. Instead, most believe that oil producers will continue to monitor the market and possibly postpone freeze talks to the official OPEC meeting in Vienna on November 30.
An attempt to jointly freeze production levels earlier this year failed after Saudi Arabia backed out over Iran's refusal to take part of the initiative, underscoring the difficulty for political rivals to forge consensus.
Elsewhere, crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 1% to a daily peak of $44.95 a barrel, before giving back most of its gains to trade at $44.55, up 7 cents, or 0.16%.
Market players continued to focus on U.S. drilling prospects, amid indications of a recent recovery in drilling activity. Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes said late Friday that the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. last week rose by 2 to 418, marking the 12th increase in 13 weeks.