Investing.com – Trading in oil futures was cautious early Thursday as OPEC ministers gathered in Vienna for their meeting later in the day.
U.S. futures were up 0.01cents, or 0.24%, at $49.13 a barrel at 0330ET after earlier falling on an unexpected rise in crude inventories, while Brent futures were up 0.50% at $49.97.
American Petroleum Institute weekly stockpile figures released overnight showed a build-up of 2.350 million barrels in crude against a forecast fall of 3.100 million. U.S. Energy Information Administration official figures are due out later Thursday.
There was talk of Saudi Arabia trying to orchestrate a formal output ceiling at the OPEC meeting. But Iran distanced itself from such an eventuality.