2023-11-21 22:04:25
Brent ended with a gain of 0.15% to $82.45 and WTI ended with a loss of 0.07% to $77.77.
Oil prices ended in mixed order on Tuesday, on a wait-and-see market before a weekend truncated by a public holiday (Thanksgiving) and punctuated by a highly anticipated meeting of the OPEC+ group on Sunday.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in January, increased by 0.15%, to close at $82.45.
Its American equivalent, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery the same month, which was the first day of use as a reference contract, fell by 0.07%, to 77.77. dollars.
Investors are waiting, “the market focusing on the next meeting of OPEC+ (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, Editor’s note) on Sunday” in Vienna, noted DNB analysts.
This meeting will be held after a marked drop in prices since the last peaks reached in September, fueling expectations of an intervention by the group on its production level.
“There is no doubt that the next meeting of OPEC+ energy ministers will be one of the most important in recent times, with investors looking to see if the hints and rumors (of production cuts) will be followed by actions,” says Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Energy.
“Volatility will inevitably increase towards the end of the week and every word of decision-makers will be scrutinized,” he insists.
For Energi Danmark analysts, member countries should “agree on the extension of current production reductions, or even on their strengthening”.
Saudi Arabia and Russia have, for the moment, committed to reducing their volumes by a total of 1.3 million barrels per day until the end of the year.
These reductions complement the reductions introduced since the beginning of May and in force until the end of 2024 decided by nine producers, including Riyadh, Moscow, Baghdad and Dubai, for a total of 1.6 million barrels daily.
For John Kilduff of Again Capital, “they’re going to have to pull a hell of a rabbit out of their hat to succeed in really pushing prices up.”
The analyst believes that even the promise of an extension of cuts throughout the first half of the year would not be enough to reverse the current trend.
Several producing countries continue to ramp up, he recalls, notably the United States and Iran, which undermines the efforts of the Saudis and the Russians to support prices.
Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji, quoted by the official Iranian news agency Shana, said on Tuesday that Iran’s oil production would reach 3.6 million barrels per day by the end of the year , as part of efforts to increase exports.
“Next year we will try to produce up to 4 million barrels per day,” he also said.
Current prices “are satisfactory for most producers,” says John Kilduff. “It is only the Saudis who want to see prices approach $100 (per barrel) to finance the diversification of their economy.”
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