Stability of oil prices amid concerns about demand in China

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday after fears of a global recession and concern that rising coronavirus infections in China would dampen demand from the world’s largest crude oil importer were offset by a falling US dollar.

Brent crude futures rose 30 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $87.75 by 0731 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for January delivery also began trading on Tuesday, up nine cents, or 0.1 percent, at $80.13 a barrel.

The two benchmarks fell more than five dollars a barrel on Monday and fell to their lowest levels in ten months after the Wall Street Journal reported that the OPEC + group meeting scheduled for December 4 will discuss an increase in production of up to 500 thousand barrels per day.

OPEC and its allies in the OPEC + group recently cut target production levels, and the Saudi energy minister said this month that the organization would remain cautious about production levels in light of the uncertainty about the global economy.