Oil swung between small gains and losses as traders weighed the impact of a series of supply moves by OPEC+ and the group’s de-facto leader, Saudi Arabia.
West Texas Intermediate gained about 0.1% to settle near $62 a barrel, narrowly extending a winning streak to a third day. OPEC and its allies including Russia decided over the weekend on a 137,000-bpd hike, while Saudi Arabia kept the price of its main grade to Asia steady in a sign of caution, surprising traders who had expected a bump.
“The OPEC+ output increase planned for November is pretty modest,” said Edward Bell, acting chief economist and group head of research at Emirates NBD. “Markets are still going to be looking out for signs of stock builds.
Crude posted back-to-back losses in August and September, hurt by concerns over an impending surplus. OPEC+ has been ramping up output for months in a bid to reclaim market share, even as rival drillers from the Americas keep raising production. Traders are also watching Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in case they hamper supplies.
Russia’s seaborne crude shipments held close to a 16-month high in the past four weeks, as drone strikes on refineries force the diversion of supplies to export terminals and strain their effective capacity. The European Union, meanwhile, continues to eye sanctions that stand to further crimp Moscow’s energy flows.
Elsewhere, Shell said the performance of its oil and gas trading operation recovered in the third quarter, after struggling with geopolitical volatility in the previous period. ExxonMobil said refining margins rebounded in the third quarter, adding about $500 million to earnings compared with the three months prior.
Source: Mia Gindis and Veena Ali-Khan