Oil holds steady ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Oil prices were flat to slightly lower on Tuesday as investors shifted focus to the upcoming talks between the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies.

Benchmark Brent crude slipped 0.1 per cent to 63.63 dollars a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were little changed at 60.62 dollars.

Now that prices have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, OPEC and its allies could consider raising output when they meet Thursday.

The group could discuss allowing as much as 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude back into the market.

Previously, Saudi Arabia has said that it would start to increase production in April.

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has notified some clients that it would ease its crude oil supply reduction to 5 per cent in April for term buyers, media reports said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Investors will also react to the latest U.S. inventories numbers due out later in the day, with economists expecting that inventories will drop by more than 1.8 million barrels last week.