increased chatter for a possible opec output cut also boosts prices us oil futures settled higher tuesday finding support as signs china might loosen covid19 restrictions helped ease worries about energy demand speculation that major oil producers may agree to cut production at a meeting on sunday also contributed to the days gains for the us crude benchmark analysts said chinas national health commission announced a push to vaccinate the elderly and cut the number of times between boosters to three months for over 80yearolds as the country deals with its worst virus outbreak thus far in the pandemic the announcement follows unprecedented street protests against president xi jinping and is the first indication that beijing may be considering a relaxation of its draconian covidcontrol policies the prospect of a return to normality in an economy that is the worlds largest oil importer was enough to make oil prices jump in the first significant price rebound of the last two weeks said ricardo evangelista senior analyst at activtrades in a note oil had fallen sharply early monday with the us benchmark briefly erasing its 2022 gains as protests across china in response to the countrys strict covid19 restrictions sparked fears of a crackdown and a further hit to crude demand oil later bounced finishing higher amid speculation about the potential for a deeper cut in production by opec see us oil taps its lowest price of the year thanks to china as opec output decision looms theres increased chatter in the energy space that the organization of the petroleum exporting countries and its allies will cut production at the dec 4 meeting said robert yawger director of energy futures at mizuho securities usa in a tuesday note opec delegates said additional reductions to output could be an option following a 2 millionbarreladay cutback last month according to a recent bloomberg report just two weeks ago there were reports the opec may decide to add 500000 barrels to help compensate for the dec 5 european union embargo on russian barrels said yawger however global benchmark brent crude touched its lowest price since january on monday opec will reportedly hold a virtual gathering sunday instead of meeting in person opting for nodrama optics seemingly increases the likelihood of a rollover decision helima croft head of global commodity strategy and mena research at rbc capital markets wrote in a note tuesday opec may also be hoping to steer clear of a media maelstrom one day before the european unions latest package of sanctions including a ban on russian oil kicks in on dec 5 said croft