Investing.com - In the week ahead, oil traders will focus on the highly-anticipated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna on Thursday and Friday.
Most market analysts expect that major producers, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, would agree some form of production cut in an effort to stave off a global glut in supplies and prop up prices.
OPEC's advisory committee suggested decreasing production by 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) from last month's levels, according to recent reports.
Oil settled lower on Friday, with prices suffering their worst month for more than 10 years in November, as swelling inventories depressed sentiment.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 52 cents, or 1%, to close at $50.93 a barrel by close of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell to a 14-month low of $49.41 on Thursday.
For the week, WTI rose about 1%.
Meanwhile, the global benchmark, Brent crude for February delivery on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, dropped 45 cents, or 0.75%, to end at $59.46 a barrel.
It lost about 0.2% for the week.
Both WTI and Brent suffered their biggest monthly percentage declines in about a decade, losing approximately 22% in November, with surging supply and the specter of faltering demand scaring off investors.
Besides OPEC, fresh weekly data on U.S. commercial crude inventories to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer and how fast output levels will continue to rise will also capture the market's attention.
The Energy Information Administration reported last week that domestic crude supplies rose by 3.6 million barrels, up for a 10th straight week, while U.S. production remained at a record 11.7 million bpd.
Offering a hint on U.S. production activity, Baker Hughes on Friday reported that the number of active domestic rigs drilling for oil rose by 2 to 887.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of the main events likely to affect the oil market.
Tuesday, December 4
The American Petroleum Institute is to publish its weekly update on U.S. oil supplies.
Wednesday, December 5
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil stockpiles.
Thursday, December 6
Oil ministers from OPEC, Russia and other major producing countries will meet in Vienna to decide on production policy for the next six months.
Friday, December 7
Baker Hughes will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count.