Oil Edges Lower on Signs of Rising Stockpiles, OPEC+ Uncertainty – Bloomberg

Oil slipped for a fourth day after an industry report pointed to a bigger-than-expected increase in U.S. crude stockpiles before a fractured OPEC+ gathers on Thursday to deliberate on its production policy. Futures slid 0.3% after falling 2.5% the past three days. The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories rose by 4.15 million barrels last week, according to people familiar. If confirmed by government data on Wednesday, it would be double the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Swelling stockpiles come as OPEC+ struggles to gain consensus on a deal to delay the planned easing of its production cuts from January. Informal talks are continuing after the alliance gave itself more time to reach a compromise by pushing back its final meeting by two days to Thursday.

Oil retreats on signs of rising U.S. stockpiles ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Oil capped its biggest monthly gain since May last month on Covid-19 vaccine breakthroughs, but the rally is being threatened by uncertainty surrounding OPEC+ output cuts after cracks emerged in the alliance. While most market watchers expected curbs to be extended for three months, tensions between allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are complicating talks.

“OPEC+ has no real choice but to extend those cuts if they want prices to remain where they are,” said Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Sydney. “Inventory data, mobility data and refining margins are all pointing toward a relatively weak physical market at the moment.”

PRICES
West Texas Intermediate for January delivery fell 15 cents to $44.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:50 a.m. London time after dropping 1.7% on Tuesday Brent for February settlement slipped 0.1% to $47.37 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange after losing 1% on Tuesday

View full article at www.bloomberg.com