Investing.com - Crude futures traded steady on Monday after Western delegates gave Iran extra time to dismantle its nuclear program, a move that will keep Iranian exports lower, while traders also looked ahead to Thursday when OPEC countries will decide on output quotas.
In the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for delivery in January traded down 0.04% at $76.48 a barrel during U.S. trading, up from a session low of $75.85 a barrel and off a high of $77.02 a barrel.
The January contract settled up 0.87% at $76.51 a barrel on Friday.
Support for the commodity was seen at $73.92 a barrel, last Wednesday's low, and resistance at $79.80 a barrel, the high from Nov. 10.
Western envoys earlier failed to reach a nuclear deal with Iran though all parties agreed to extend Monday's deadline to July to give Tehran more time to comply, which gave oil some support, as a deal would lift sanctions and allow for more oil on the global market.
Iran is accused of developing a nuclear weapons program, a charge Tehran denies, claiming its resources will be used for energy purposes.
Investors were also keeping Thursday's OPEC meeting in focus, with many on the sidelines to see if the cartel cuts output to shore up slumping prices, which watered down earlier gains and sent the commodity dipping into negative territory at times.
While countries like Saudi Arabia have suggested prices should continue to fall, presumably with the aim of sidelining U.S. shale producers, others such as Libya, Iran and Venezuela have advocated cutting production to shore up falling prices.
Separately, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil futures for January delivery were down 0.09% at US$80.29 a barrel, while the spread between Brent and U.S. crude contracts stood at $3.81.