{"id":13680,"date":"2024-12-22T01:12:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T01:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=13680"},"modified":"2024-12-22T01:12:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T01:12:48","slug":"oil-prices-cut-losses-but-settle-lower-on-us-stockpile-build-opec-meeting-delay-by-investing-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=13680","title":{"rendered":"Oil prices cut losses but settle lower on US stockpile build, OPEC+ meeting delay By Investing.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Investing.com — Oil prices settled lower Wednesday despite fighting back against a wave selling pressure following a much larger than expected increase in weekly U.S. crude stockpiles and easing optimism about deeper supply cuts after major oil producing nations delayed a meeting to set output policy.<\/p>\n

By 14:30 ET (19:30 GMT), the futures settled 0.86% lower at $77.10 a barrel, while the contract dropped 0.6% to $81.96 a barrel. Both benchmarks were more than 4% lower intraday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. crude stockpiles jump<\/strong><\/h2>\n

U.S. increased by 8.7 million barrels last week, well above forecasts for a 1.2 million increase, adding to worries about crude oversupply.<\/p>\n

Gasoline inventories, one of the products that crude is refined into, by 749,000 barrels, confounding expectations for a draw of 150,000 barrels while distillate stockpiles by about 1 million barrels, compared to expectations of a decline of 761,000 barrels.<\/p>\n

U.S. crude output remained at a record level of 13.2 million barrels per day, up from 12.10 million bpd a year earlier, the Energy Information Agency reported.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This record level of U.S. supply is proving a headwind for the market, and posing a problem for OPEC+, as the U.S. appears to be taking market share away from the cartel\u2019s top producers as they, and Saudi Arabia in particular, cut output to boost prices.<\/p>\n

OPEC+ meeting postponed<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The crude market had started the week on a firm note following reports that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, was set to discuss cutting output levels further in their meeting over the weekend.<\/p>\n

However, the news that the meeting has been postponed to Nov. 26 has created a great deal of uncertainty over future production levels, with traders seeing the postponement as evidence of disagreement between the principal players.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of OPEC+ have already pledged oil output cuts of about 5 million barrels per day, or about 5% of daily global demand, in a series of steps that started in late 2022.<\/p>\n

This figure includes a voluntary reduction by Saudi Arabia of one million barrels per day and a 300,000 barrels a day cut in Russian oil exports, both of which last until the end of 2023.<\/p>\n

That said, even if OPEC+ extends the cuts into next year, the global oil market will still see a slight surplus of supply in 2024, said Toril Bosoni, the head of the International Energy Agency’s oil markets and industry division on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Dollar rebound weighs on crude<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Also weighing on the market Wednesday was a rebound in the U.S. dollar after the publication of the from the early November Federal Reserve meeting.<\/p>\n

As oil is priced in dollars, a stronger greenback makes the commodity more expensive for foreign buyers.<\/p>\n

(Peter Nurse and Ambar Warrick contributed to this report.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n