US oil prices rose on Tuesday, on speculation that the Federal Reserve may be poised to provide more stimulus to prevent the world's largest economy from stalling.
US oil prices rose on Tuesday, on speculation that the Federal Reserve may be poised to provide more stimulus to prevent the world's largest economy from stalling.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in July, climbed 83 cents to $84.10 a barrel.
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday began another crunch policy meeting under the pall of subpar US jobs growth and a European debt crisis that could slowly squeeze the life out of the global recovery.
Many on Wall Street are betting that the bad news forces the Fed to come to the rescue -- altering its bond portfolio or piling more assets on its already considerably swollen balance sheet.
Meanwhile, Brent North Sea crude for August fell 29 cents to reach $95.76 a barrel, as the consumption outlook in Europe continued to look patchy.
Brent crude had earlier hit a 17-month low, caused by Spanish debt concerns.
"Euro area challenges continue to pressurize oil prices and we expect these to persist in the short term," said Barclays Capital analyst Amrita Sen.
Spain on Tuesday succeeded in raising 3.04 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in a short-term debt sale but its borrowing costs soared as the eurozone debt storm battered Madrid.
Spain's government won agreement on June 9 for its eurozone partners to extend a rescue loan of up to 100 billion euros to salvage its crisis-hit banks but some analysts believe the country could need three times that amount.
The eurozone debt crisis, along with weaker growth in China, is meanwhile weighing on world crude demand.