Futures in New York were little changed, putting them on course for a 2.8 percent drop in February. An industry report was said to show U.S. oil inventories rose last week, which would be the fourth expansion in five weeks if confirmed in government data. The head of OPEC plans to dine with shale producers in Houston next week at a time when America is pumping at record levels and threatening the group’s efforts to curb a global glut. U.S. crude output is forecast to rise to a record level in February, stoking fears that shale producers may derail OPEC’s strategy of reducing output to clear a global glut. The producer group’s Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said he will meet with U.S. shale company executives for dinner on Monday in Houston, the second time he has met with some of the cartel’s top rivals.

Futures in New York are up 3.7 percent this month, even after a 1 percent drop on Monday, following data that showed an increase in U.S. drilling activity. A potential withdrawal in May by U.S. President Donald Trump from a 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran would reimpose sanctions on the Middle Eastern producer and curb its exports. Meanwhile, OPEC is trimming output even after concluding it has cleared 97 percent of the surplus that has weighed on prices. “Obviously the rig count that came on Friday was quite bearish,” says Torbjorn Kjus, chief oil analyst at DNB Bank ASA. “There’s a lot of profit in the books here for the non-commercials. You shouldn’t be surprised if there’s a $5 flush out and some profit taking.” In the U.S., working oil rigs rose by five last week to 825, the highest level since March 2015, according to data from Baker Hughes. Click Read More below for additional information.