Investing.com - Oil prices rose on Tuesday, with U.S. crude on track to break a four-day losing streak as investors prepped for weekly input on stockpiles stateside.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained $1.15, or 1.70%, at $68.69 a barrel by 11:06 AM ET (15:06 GMT).
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., rose $1.16, or 1.50%, to $78.53.
With several key meetings on the calendar, markets were focused on more short-term references from weekly crude inventories in the U.S.
After the market close on Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute will publish its weekly data on U.S. stockpiles, which will be followed on Wednesday by official government data amid expectations that crude inventories fell by 750,000 barrels.
Washington has been scrambling to convince oil producers to increase output amid fears that U.S. sanctions on Iran will push oil prices higher as supply diminishes.
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry met Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih on Monday. They discussed the state of global oil markets, potential for U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear cooperation, along with efforts to share technologies for the production of clean fuels, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Perry will also meet with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Thursday in Moscow, a U.S. source and a diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, the Joint Technical Committee -- composed of representatives from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC major producers led by Russia -- is expected to meet on Sept. 17 to consider proposals on distributing the agreed output increase of 1 million barrels per day.
OPEC, Russia and other non-members agreed in June to return to 100% compliance with oil output cuts that began in January 2017, after underproduction by some had pushed compliance above 160%.
According to the sources cited, there are four proposals on the table that will be discussed before being presented to ministers attending the next monitoring meeting on Sept. 23 in Algeria.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures jumped 1.96% to $1.9980 a gallon by 11:09 AM ET (15:09 GMT), while heating oil advanced 1.19% to $2.2443 a gallon.
Lastly, natural gas futures lost 0.07% to $2.802 per million British thermal units.