Brent oil price stabilises ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Oil prices stabilised on December 3 as traders adopted a wait-and-see approach ahead of the upcoming OPEC+ meeting.

The OPEC+ Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting and the ministerial session have been postponed from December 1 to December 5. The market anticipates that the alliance will delay its planned oil production increase set for January due to ongoing concerns over a potential decline in global demand, Caliber.Az reports.

Currently, the price of February Brent crude futures on the ICE Futures exchange in London stands at $71.92 per barrel, up by $0.09 (0.13 per cent) compared to the previous session. On December 2, these contracts fell by $0.01 to $71.83 per barrel. Meanwhile, January WTI crude futures on the NYMEX e-trading platform increased by $0.03 (0.04 per cent), reaching $68.13 per barrel. The previous session saw these contracts rise by $0.10 (0.2 per cent), closing at $68.10 per barrel.

On the geopolitical front, tensions in the Middle East appeared to ease after Israel and Hezbollah reached a 60-day ceasefire agreement, brokered through US-mediated talks. However, both parties resumed hostilities soon after President Joe Biden's announcement, highlighting the difficulties in securing a long-term peace agreement. In terms of demand, API data showed a significant 5.9 million barrel reduction in US crude inventories. This marked the largest drop since August, and defied market expectations for a modest increase of 0.25 million barrels.

By Naila Huseynova