Investing.com - Oil prices rose Monday morning in Asia with expectations that oil producers would discuss further how to clear the global oil excess during a meeting between OPEC and U.S. shale companies.
Crude Oil WTI Futures for April delivery were trading at $61.52 a barrel in Asia at 10:45pm ET, up 0.44%. Brent crude futures for May delivery, traded in London, were up 0.43% at $64.65 per barrel.
The largest energy industry conference, CERAWeek, begins on Monday. Oil ministers from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other global oil players will gather in Houston for the event.
On the sidelines of the conference, a dinner is expected to be held on Monday between OPEC officials and U.S. shale firms.
Soaring shale oil production in the U.S. has hampered OPEC’s attempt to ease the global oversupply and prop up prices.
OPEC has been reducing output by around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) since January 2017, with output falling to a 10-month low in February 2018. Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories increased by 3 million barrels in the last week of February, putting a lid on prices.
Since mid-2016, U.S production has increased more than 20%, exceeding 10 million bpd. The U.S. has already risen past top exporter Saudi Arabia, and is set to overtake Russia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2019 at the latest.
This month, the number of oil rigs drilling for new production in the U.S. rose to 800 for the first time since April 2015, pointing to more increases in output to come.
Meanwhile, OPEC President Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouel, who is also the oil minister of the United Arab Emirates, said on Sunday that OPEC has not discussed rolling over production cuts until next year.