Investing.com - Oil prices were higher during North America trading on Tuesday, extending overnight gains as market participants continued to weigh prospects of a coordinated production cut among major global oil producers.
Crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped by as much as 3.6% to a session high of $44.95 a barrel.
It was last at $44.57 by 9:10AM ET (14:10GMT), up $1.25, or 2.9%, after sliding to $42.20 the day before, a level not seen since August 11.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for January delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London climbed $1.23, or 2.77%, to $45.66 a barrel. It dropped to as low as $43.57 in the prior session, the weakest since August 11.
Bloomberg reported that several OPEC members were engaged in a last-minute push to overcome divisions between the cartel’s biggest producers.
Qatar, Algeria and Venezuela are leading the push to finalize a deal, while Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are at odds over how to share output cuts agreed at a September meeting in Algiers, according to a delegate familiar with the talks.
The oil group reached an agreement to cap output to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day in talks held in Algeria in late September. However, OPEC said it won’t finalize details on individual output quotas until its next official meeting in Vienna on November 30.
The cartel pumped 33.64 million barrels of crude per day in October. The figures added to skepticism over the implementation of a planned deal by OPEC to limit production.
The possibility that producers could walk away empty-handed from the November meeting looms large after Iraq, Iran, Nigeria and Libya all signaled they might not take part in the proposed production cut deal. Russia’s unclear stance is also fueling uncertainty.
Market players are also looking ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on stockpiles of crude and refined products.
Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday.