Investing.com - Oil prices gained on Monday as investors remained cautious ahead of the upcoming U.S. sanctions against Iran’s crude exports.
Crude Oil WTI Futures for December delivery gained 0.32% to $69.50 per barrel by 12:15 AM ET (04:15 GMT) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent Oil Futures for December delivery rose 0.23% to $79.96 a barrel on London’s Intercontinental Exchange.
Citing an internal document, Reuters reported that OPEC is having difficulties to pump more oil to the market as a recent boost in Saudi Arabian supply was offset by declines in Iran, Venezuela and Angola.
"In China, higher seasonal demand and suspected stockpiling are occurring, while similarly the U.S. and the OECD continue building stockpiles ahead of potential supply disruptions this winter," said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia/Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that countries wishing to get waivers on Iran oil sanctions would have to reduce their buying of Iranian oil by about 20% than the level from 2013 to 2015.
"I would expect that if we do give waivers it will be significantly larger reductions," said Mnuchin.
He added: "Oil prices have already gone up, so my expectation is that the oil market has anticipated what's going on in the reductions. I believe the information is already reflected in the price of oil," he said.
In other news, the U.S. oil drilling rig count rose by four to 873 last week, the highest since March 2015, Baker Hughes energy services firm said on Friday.
Saudi Arabia also remained in focus as Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Sunday called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi a "huge and grave mistake," but added that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not aware of the incident and was not responsible for the killing.
Investors suspect the latest development could undermine the leadership of the Prince and has the risk of eventually destabilizing the oil-rich kingdom.
Looking ahead, the American Petroleum Institute will publish its weekly update on U.S. oil supplies on Tuesday, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil stockpiles on Wednesday.