West Texas Intermediate futures for October delivery are currently at $45.91 (-0.07%), while Brent crude climbed to $49.75 (+0.46%) following optimism in stock markets. Meanwhile a survey by the Platts agency showed that oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was slightly lower in August at 31.26 million barrels per day compared 31.4 million bpd in July, but still above the cartel's production ceiling of 30 million bpd.

The American Petroleum Institute will publish its crude stockpile numbers later today, and the Energy Information Administration will report on Thursday. Crude inventories are expected to show another rise.

China's crude oil imports declined 10.2% in August from July, but were still 5.6% above levels seen a year ago. ANZ says oil imports to the world's second-biggest economy will be supported by new storage facilities by independent oil players and the permission for two more independent oil refiners to import oil.