Oil prices rose one per cent on Tuesday with benchmark Brent prices hitting a three-month high on hopes for a coordinated approach by major producers to support prices.
Brent crude futures were trading at $41.43 a barrel at 1257 GMT, their highest since December 9, up 59 cents on the day.
On Monday, the contract had climbed by 5.5 per cent in intra-day trading and it has now gained more than 50 per cent since its 2016 low on Jan. 20.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 38 cents at 38.28 dollars a barrel.
“The bullish sentiment continues to push prices up or the absence of negative news,” said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
News of a meeting of Latin American crude producers set in Quito for Friday had boosted oil prices on Monday, and bullish sentiment swept over into Tuesday’s session.
OPEC members and other producers in Russia are also due to meet for talks on March 20, according to the Nigerian petroleum minister.
Kuwait’s oil minister said on Tuesday that his country’s participation in an output freeze would require all major oil producers, including Iran, to be on board.
“I’ll go full power if there’s no agreement. Every barrel I produce I’ll sell,” Anas al-Saleh told reporters in Kuwait City.
OPEC member Kuwait is currently producing three million barrels of oil per day (bpd), he added.
But analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a report on Tuesday that the price rally was premature and unsustainable.
SEB chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said that U.S. shale oil rig numbers could soon rise again, halting the recent price rally.
A global supply glut that has brought prices down prices from highs reached in mid-2014 continues to weigh on the market.
