Crude oil futures ended marginally higher on Tuesday with traders largely making cautious moves ahead of the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+. OPEC+, which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, is expected to agree to stick to the plan of increasing production by 400,000 barrels per day in March. However, there is some speculation that the group might decide to increase production by more than the 400,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile, US crude production rose 2% in November to 11.753 million barrels per day, according to a monthly report from the US Energy Information Administration.
Benchmark crude oil futures for March delivery added $0.05 or about 0.06 percent to settle at $88.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, Brent crude for April delivery lost $0.10 or 0.11 percent to settle at $89.16 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.