Oil prices steadied in Asian trading on Monday as markets awaited an OPEC+ meeting on June 2 where producers are expected to discuss maintaining voluntary output cuts for the rest of the year. The Brent crude July contract was up 18 cents to $82.30 a barrel as of 0409 GMT.
The more-active August contract rose 25 cents to $82.09. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 24 cents to $77.96. Brent ended last week about 2% lower and WTI lost nearly 3% after Federal Reserve minutes showed some officials would be willing to tighten interest rates further if they believed it was necessary to control persistent inflation.
Public holidays in the U.S. and UK on Monday are expected to keep trading relatively thin. The upcoming meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, was pushed back by a day and will be held online, OPEC said on Friday.
The producers will discuss whether to extend voluntary output cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day into the second half of the year, with three sources from OPEC+ countries saying an extension was likely.
