Oil prices were mixed on Monday, with U.S. oil settling above $104 as supply disruptions in Europe helped halt last week's losses, although cautious investors waited for the results of this week's U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.
Disruptions in Libya, Iraq, and elsewhere have removed well over 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of supplies from the market. Other suppliers, such as Sudan, may see their exports reduced in the coming weeks, analysts say. North Sea benchmark Forties crude flows have been curbed due to maintenance.
The lost production helped bolster a market that has been worrying about the prospects for fuel demand as a number of economies, including China, experience slower growth.
Brent crude last traded up 0.40 percent above $107, after slipping 0.8 percent last week, the largest weekly decline since May. U.S. light, sweet crude lost 15 cents to settle at $104.55.
Policymakers at the U.S. central bank will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss monetary policy and are expected to issue a statement Wednesday afternoon.
"It's going to be really difficult to knock the market down before the Fed statement," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
"Even though fundamentals seem to show that the prices should be lower, the Fed's promise of quantitative easing could support the market."
Gasoline futures lagged the complex, dipping one cent to $3.036 a gallon after tropical storm Dorian dissipated without causing any damage to the refining industry, and North Atlantic Refining announced that its 115,000 barrel per day Come By Chance refinery in Newfoundland was fully back online.
Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, said the market appeared fairly balanced but investors had been "taking money off the table after a strong run-up a couple of weeks ago".
