LONDON--Crude futures were largely steady as traders preferred to mark time ahead of key U.S. oil inventories data and Wednesday's U.S. interest-rate decision.
A lack of clear direction in global stock and currency markets also prompted some oil traders to stay sidelined.
The widely watched U.S. oil inventories data from the Department of Energy covering the week ended Friday will be released at 1530 GMT Wednesday, while the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, will put out its data Tuesday at 2130 GMT.
Crude oil inventories in the U.S. are expected to fall by 2.1 million barrels in the week ended Friday, according to the mean of forecasts by seven analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.
"Oil markets are in a standstill, waiting for the outcome of the Fed meeting and of the weekly DOE statistics," said Olivier Jakob, managing director of Swiss consultancy Petromatrix.
With the approach of the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Angola Dec. 22, some analysts expect sentiment to turn more bearish.
"Although an unchanged stance is widely expected, perceptions of a cartel trying to gloss over a rather uninspiring compliance record [now estimated to be around 60%] should weigh heavily on sentiment, and possibly lead to an eventual downside break to the mid-$60 [a barrel] level," said Edward Meir, senior commodity analyst of MF Global.
At 1130 GMT, the front-month January Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was up $0.07 at $71.82 a barrel. The front-month January light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading $0.14 higher at $69.65 a barrel.
The ICE's gasoil contract for January delivery was down $1.00 at $587.25 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for January delivery was up 56 points at 183.23 cents a gallon.
The main feature of recent trades of Nymex light, sweet crude was a widening contango, with the benchmark January contract now trading at a discount of $2.30 to the February contract.
Most analysts attributed the widening contango to continuous builds of crude oil stocks in Cushing, Okla., the delivery point of Nymex light, sweet crude futures. But it remains to be seen whether the wider contango would lead to a sharp increase in offshore storage.
"At the current economics, we would expect to see further builds in Cushing, while the stock outlook for the U.S. Gulf will be more uncertain given that there was last week some delays in the Houston Ship Channel due to bad weather," Petromatrix's Mr. Jakob said.
"The problem remains that with weather delays and anticipation of end-of-the-year tax plays, crude oil stock draws in the U.S. Gulf this time of the year tend to be discounted," he said, adding: "[the] two-tier market between the U.S. Gulf and Cushing is not likely to end soon."
