Investing.com - Oil prices ticked higher Thursday as the dollar fell back after disappointing U.S. inflation data, but gains were checked ahead of Sunday’s meeting of major suppliers in Doha.
Crude oil for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 15 cents, or 0.36%, to trade at $41.90 a barrel by 1013 GMT.
Global benchmark Brent rose 15 cents to $44.34 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The dollar turned lower after data showing that U.S. consumer prices rose at a slower than expected rate in March. A weaker dollar boosts oil, making it more affordable to holders of other currencies.
But the upside for oil looked likely to remain limited amid doubts about whether a meeting of major producers in Doha on Sunday will result in an agreement to freeze output or that it will have a meaningful impact.
The meeting will include both members and nonmembers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Russian oil minister Alexander Novak has said any deal will be loosely-framed with few detailed commitments.
Iran has said it won’t participate in an output freeze until its output levels return to where they were before international sanctions were imposed.
The International Energy Agency warned Thursday that a deal is likely to have a limited impact on global supply and markets are unlikely to rebalance before 2017.
Data on Wednesday showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles also underlined oversupply concerns.
The Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude inventories increased by 6.6 million barrels in the latest week, bringing total crude stocks to a new record high of 536 million barrels.
Analysts had expected a storage build of 1.85 million barrels.