SEOUL, March 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose early on Mondayahead of a meeting between OPEC and U.S. shale firms in Houston,raising expectations that oil producers would discuss furtherhow to clear a global oil glut.
Oil ministers from the Organization of the PetroleumExporting Countries (OPEC) and other global oil players are setto gather in Houston as CERAWeek, the largest energy industryconference, begins on Monday. Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo and other OPECofficials are expected to hold a dinner on Monday with U.S.shale firms on the sidelines of te conference. benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was up 36 cents,or 0.6 percent, at $64.73 a barrel by 0027 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose 35cents, or 0.6 percent, to $61.60 per barrel.
Rising U.S. shale oil production has been a drag on theOPEC's commitment to erode a prolonged global oil glut and propup prices.
U.S. energy companies added 1 oil rig in the week to March 2, bringing the total count to 800, the highest level sinceApril 2015, according to a weekly report from General Electric'sBaker Hughes unit. RIG/U
Speculators raised their bullish bets on U.S. crude futuresand options in the week to Feb. 27 for the second consecutiveweek, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) saidon Friday. CFTC/
Money managers also upped their bullish bets on Brent crude,InterContinental Exchange (ICE) data showed.