Prices on oil begin the week with a small decline prior to Wednesday meetings in the US Federal Reserve and among countries organized in OPEC+.

A barrel of European reference oil Brent trades at USD 86.37 on Monday morning against USD 86.90 Friday afternoon, with US counterpart West Texas Intermediate trading at USD 79.51 per barrel against Friday’s USD 80.57.

Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, known collectively as OPEC+, are not expected to make alterations to oil output levels when meeting up on Feb. 1, reports Reuters.

”No change to the OPEC+ output is expected to be announced at this week’s meeting and we expect outlook commentary from the U.S. Fed to be the key driver of the outlook in the near term,” state National Australia Bank analysts to the news agency.

Market expectations are that the Federal Reserve meeting will lead to an increase in the interest rate of 25 basis points, which is lower than the recent raise in December of 50 basis points.

The relatively lower raise puts a damper on fears of an economic recession, which could lead to crude prices declining parallel to lower demand in the US, the world’s top oil consumer.

Markets could also be affected by how oil producer Iran responds to a drone attack during the weekend.

If the situation escalates any further, it could have an effect on oil production and exports in Iran, according to Stefano Grasso, portfolio manager at investment firm 8VantEdge.

China’s reopening after Covid is also being closely monitored by markets.