Investing.com - Crude oil prices eased in Asia on Monday ahead of a July 24 meeting on OPEC and allies to review progress on output cuts and a weaker dollar as the Fed gets set to give its latest views on rates this week.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude September eased 0.17% to $45.69 a barrel. On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for September delivery was last quoted sharply down at $47.88 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the Fed will give its latest views on rates ahead of the first look at U.S. second quarter growth on Friday.
Last week, oil prices settled lower for the second session in a row on Friday, ending at its weakest level in about a week as sentiment soured amid indications that supply from OPEC was set to rise, despite the cartel's agreement to curb production.
Oil sank on Friday after tanker-tracking firm PetroLogistics said crude output from OPEC members was set to rise by 145,000 barrels a day in July from a month earlier.
The increase in oil supply would push production above 33 million barrels per day, due to increased output from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.
The news comes ahead of a highly-anticipated meeting of some oil ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC producers in Russia on Monday, who are gathering to discuss compliance with the cartel's deal to cut production.
Market experts say the ministers will likely recommend maintaining the policy of holding back output at current levels, but efforts will be made to bring Nigeria and Libya into the framework due to the recent recovery of their production.
In May, OPEC and some non-OPEC producers extended an agreement to slash 1.8 million barrels per day in supply until March 2018. So far, the agreement has had little impact on global inventory levels due to rising supply from producers not participating in the accord, such as Libya and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., weekly figures from energy services company Baker Hughes showed that the number of active rigs drilling for oil declined by 1 to 764 last week, suggesting early signs of moderating domestic production growth.
The count is often seen as proxy for the outlook on domestic production.
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