Crude Gains On Tuesday But Investors Nervously Await Next Week's Doha Talks

Crude oil gained on Tuesday and hit an intra-year high but oil investors and traders may be right to hold a cautious stance ahead of April 17's meeting between major OPEC nations and oil producers. Crude oil settled above the $40 per barrel mark for the first time in 3 weeks on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal, citing an analyst at PVM brokerage attributed the commodity's strong gains as of late to "dollar weakness" and a "generally positive sentiment toward commodities." Global oil producers will meet in Doha, Qatar next week and discuss a potential freeze to output levels. However, Iran has hinted it has no intention in maintaining its output level and wants to increase its output to regain lost market share following an international sanction. Meanwhile,

Saudi Arabia said

it will only agree to keeping its output at a study level only if Iran agrees to such terms. "We find ourselves more persuaded by the broader market arithmetic that recognizes that freezing output at a high level leaves a surplus in place," The Wall Street Journal quoted Tim Evans, an analyst at Citi Futures as saying. "Rising Iranian output [is] still likely to dictate a further increase in total OPEC supply to 33 million barrels a day, with the global market remaining in surplus until the second half of 2017 as a result."

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