Investing.com – Oil prices rose on Tuesday after Russia voiced support for the market.
Russian energy minister, Alexander Novak, said they would continue cooperating with the Organization of the Petroleum Export Countries (OPEC) on supporting the market.
Analysts also predict a second weekly decline in U.S. crude inventories. The Brent crude was up 7 cents at $66.46 a barrel by 0105 GMT. U.S. while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was 4 cents higher at $60.56 a barrel.
OPEC, Russia and other producers have joined hands to curtail production and support prices. Novak said Russia will continue their cooperation as long as it is "effective and brings results," in an interview on Monday.
Cooperation would continue "until the market requires it".
In November, OPEC and other producers agreed to extend and deepen output curbs that have been in place since 2017. The cut in output could see as much as 2.1 million bpd taken off the market, which is around 2% of global demand.
U.S. producers have been meeting the gaps in the market by pumping larger amounts of crude. It reaching a record high of around 13 million bpd in November.
That has pumped up inventories, which have been largely resistant to drawdowns. U.S. stocks are up around 1% this year.
A preliminary Reuters poll expects crude stocks to have fallen by about 1.8 million barrels last week, a second week of declines.
But gasoline stocks are expected to have gone up for a seventh week in a row. Distillate inventories are also expected to rise for a fifth consecutive week.