Oil prices rose on Wednesday on hopes that major producing countries would seal an agreement on freezing production following a key ministerial meeting in Iran, even though Tehran signaled a tough line.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh met his counterparts from Venezuela, Iraq and Qatar in Tehran for over two hours. An Iranian official earlier said Iran would continue increasing its crude output until it reached levels seen before the imposition of international sanctions.
"Asking Iran to freeze its oil production level is illogical," Iran's OPEC envoy, Mehdi Asali, was quoted as saying by the Shargh newspaper.
Crude futures extended gains as the meeting came to a close, but some of those gains after Venezuela and Qatar's oil ministers departed Iran before Zanganeh was scheduled to make a statement.