Oil prices turned positive on Wednesday despite investor doubts that OPEC will agree to a production cut large enough to make a significant dent in the global glut of crude.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet next week on Nov. 30 in Vienna to decide on the details of an agreement to cut output that the group has been trying to hammer out since September.
Oil prices were lower in the morning but turned positive after the Energy Information Administration said US crude stocks unexpectedly fell 1.3 million barrels last week.
In the US market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose 8 cents to $48.11 a barrel by 1735 GMT after trading between $47.40 and $48.43.
Brent crude futures were up 5 cents at $49.16 a barrel, also trading in $1-range between $48.56 and $49.50.
Calendar spreads, the difference in price between one month and the next in the futures market, showed little signs that traders are pricing in a big change in market fundamentals.
The front to second-month WTI calendar spread traded at its widest level in seven months on Tuesday, although it narrowed slightly on Wednesday. The one to six-month spread traded at one of the widest levels since August.
The WTI cash roll, which allows physical traders to roll long positions forward, traded down to negative $1.80 a barrel on Tuesday.
All are indications that traders expect little change in oversupply in the market in the near term.
“Looking at the forward curve, the spread has gotten substantially weaker on the WTI side ... so that’s bearish and pressures the front of the curve,” said Tariq Zahir, an analyst at Tyche Capital Advisers in New York.

Source: Arab News