Iran Press/ West Asia: March Brent crude futures, which are due to expire on Wednesday, rose 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $82.48 a barrel by 1059 GMT. The more active April contract rose 13 cents, or 0.2% to $81.96. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 24 cents, or 0.3%, at $77.02 a barrel, Reuters reported.
Both contracts fell more than $1 on Monday as a deepening real estate crisis in China fuelled worries about demand from the world's biggest crude consumer after a Hong Kong court ordered the liquidation of property company China Evergrande Group.
Limiting the gains, however, were concerns about the outlook for China's economy, and any potential fallout from Evergrande's liquidation order, analysts said.
"[The] ramifications of a possible collapse in China's property sector makes moot any authority stimulus and will have very negative global shockwaves," PVM analyst John Evans said.
On the supply side, while an OPEC+ meeting on Feb. 1 was unlikely to see a decision on the oil policy the group's oil policy for April, analysts are hoping it could still shed some light on production plans.
Aramco, the state oil company of the world's biggest producer Saudi Arabia, in an indication of the future demand outlook, said it had received a directive from the Energy Ministry to maintain its maximum sustainable capacity at 12 million barrels a day, and not to continue increasing it to 13 million barrels per day.
"It may be to save money. But most likely it implies that it sees no need for this extra oil in the global market," said SEB analyst Bjarne Schieldrop. 204
