Oil slips as OPEC+ prepares to discuss deeper output cuts
Oil prices fell in muted trading ahead of OPEC talks in Vienna later on Thursday, trimming some of the sharp gains made the previous session on both the possibility of producers agreeing further output cuts and a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories.
Brent crude futures dipped 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $62.90 a barrel by 0547 GMT. Brent surged 3.6% on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $58.21 a barrel. They settled up 4.2% on Wednesday.
Prices are now back roughly to the levels of a week ago, before they plunged on a lack of progress on resolving a 17-month-old Sino-U.S. trade war that has hit global growth and demand for oil.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday described trade talks with China as going “very well,” a day after saying it could take until after next year’s presidential election to complete an agreement.
Investor attention has switched to meetings of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, including Russia, and the possibility of more production cuts.
The so-called OPEC+ group has been curbing output since 2017 to counter surging production from the United States, which is now the world’s biggest oil producer. OPEC+ has been withholding about 1.2 million barrels per day of production. OPEC is aiming to push for deeper reductions in output but needs the agreement of Russia and other oil producers to avoid a supply glut next year, after demand growth slowed in 2019, while many analysts are sceptical of further cuts.
OPEC members will meet among themselves on Thursday and be joined on Friday by Russia and the other producers.