Oil prices hit six-week high on hopes of extended OPEC output cuts

Oil futures hit a six-week high on Tuesday, rising for a fifth day on optimism that OPEC and other countries may agree to extend production cuts in a bid to support prices.

Brent was up 26 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $62.85 a barrel by 0349 GMT (0649 Riyadh time), while US crude was 27 cents, or 0.5 percent higher at $58.12 a barrel.

Brent touched highest since Aug. 1, while US crude rose to the highest since July 31.

US oil gained more than 2 percent on Monday, while Brent finished the day 1.7 percent higher as the market reacted to the appointment by Saudi Arabia of Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, as energy minister on Sunday.

Prince Abdulaziz, a long-time member of the Saudi delegation to OPEC, said the pillars of Saudi Arabia's policy would not change and a global deal to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day would be maintained.

He added that the so-called OPEC+ alliance, made up of OPEC and non-OPEC countries including Russia, would be in place for the long term.

A meeting of OPEC and OPEC+ countries in Abu Dhabi this week "is stirring up hopes for additional supply cuts," said Stephen Innes, Asia Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader.

"Markets will need to see concrete progress on the production front, even as the world's economy slows, to sustain gains," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Executives at the annual Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference said on Monday they expect oil prices this year to be pressured by uncertainties surrounding the global economy, the US-China trade war and increasing US supplies