Crude oil futures stabilized in mid-morning trade in Asia Monday after ICE Brent hit a 1-year low last Friday, though analysts said the near-term outlook remained bearish. At 10:30 am Singapore time (0230 GMT), ICE January Brent crude futures were up 61 cents/b (1.04%) from Friday’s settle at $59.41/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract was 33 cents/b (0.65%) higher at $50.75/b.
“Another bout of weakness in the oil market looks likely this week as investors watch discussions between Saudi Arabia and Russia at the G20 summit,” ANZ analysts said in a client note Monday. However, there is hope that things could stabilize. Khalid Al-Falih and Alexander Novak, the Saudi and Russian energy ministers, will be traveling to the event together and are said to be looking at proposals to halt the recent decline in prices,” the analysts added.
Rising global supply concerns and slower economic growth prospects propelled a selloff last week, with oil hitting the lowest level in more than a year on Friday. “The G20 meeting between presidents Trump and Xi, and updates on Fed views, would be important events… particularly with news that we could see an early OPEC meeting at the sidelines of the G20 this weekend,” IG market strategist Pan Jingyi said.
“The expectations remain for a supply curb going into 2019 from the coalition even as the outlook gets increasingly marred by other political implications,” Pan added. Analysts will also be monitoring the positions of financial investors in the run-up to the OPEC meeting on December 6.