Investing.com - Oil futures recouped some of the previous session's heavy losses on Thursday, as market players looked ahead to Friday's highly-anticipated OPEC meeting in Vienna.
Media reports said that Saudi Arabia, which has so far resisted pressure to waver from its no-cut policy, will propose a supply cut of 1 million barrels per day, as long as other OPEC producers like Iran and Iraq, and non-OPEC members such as Russia and Mexico join them.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for January delivery climbed $1.02, or 2.41%, to trade at $43.52 a barrel during U.S. morning hours. A day earlier, prices plunged $1.95, or 4.39%, after hitting an intraday low of $42.43, the weakest level since August 24.
Global crude production is outpacing demand following a boom in U.S. shale oil and after a decision by OPEC last year not to cut production in order to defend market share.
Elsewhere, crude oil for delivery in January on the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on 62 cents, or 1.55%, to trade at $40.56 a barrel.
On Wednesday, Nymex futures fell to $39.84, a level not seen since August 27, before ending down $1.91, or 4.56%, at $39.94, after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. rose for the 10th consecutive week last week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories increased by 1.2 million barrels last week. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock decline of 471,000 barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 489.4 million barrels as of last week, remaining near levels not seen for this time of year in at least the last 80 years.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $2.77 a barrel, compared to $2.55 by close of trade on Wednesday.
Besides the OPEC meeting, oil traders will also focus on Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for November, the last jobs report before the Federal Reserve decides on interest rates at its December 15-16 meeting.