Oil prices stabilized, ahead of an OPEC+ meeting at which major oil producers will decide whether to press ahead with their plan to boost supplies while COVID-19 cases surge in Asia and assess American refineries were damaged by Hurricane Ida.
It is scheduled to meet OPEC, Russia and its allies, in what is known as the OPEC + gathering, at 15:00 GMT, today, Wednesday, to determine whether they will adhere to a plan to pump 400 million barrels per day per month until December.
OPEC + sources said that the grouping expects the market to witness a deficit until the end of 2021.
OPEC+ sources told Reuters that the meeting would extend existing policies despite US pressure to increase supplies further.
Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to $71.70 a barrel in Asian trading, after losing 42 cents on Tuesday.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $68.57, after falling 1 percent on Tuesday, on expectations of lower demand after the closure of 6 refineries in Louisiana after being hit by Hurricane Ida.
The US Department of Energy has estimated that Louisiana's refining capacity has fallen by 2.3 million barrels per day, or 13% of total US energy, due to Hurricane Ida. Meanwhile, about 94% of oil and gas production is still suspended on the US side of the Gulf of Mexico.
Price received support from data from the American Petroleum Institute, which showed that US crude stocks fell by four million barrels for the week ending on August 27, a decline greater than what analysts expected in A Reuters poll.
Official US Energy Information Administration inventory data is due Wednesday.
