Oil drops; losses limited by hopes of OPEC\, Russia output cut

Oil drops; losses limited by hopes of OPEC, Russia output cut

Reuters  |  NEW YORK 

By Devika Krishna Kumar and Jessica Resnick-Ault

The two benchmarks, North Sea Brent and U.S. crude , still have had their weakest month in more than 10 years in November, losing more than 20 percent as global supply has outstripped demand.

Front-month Brent futures fell 80 cents, or 1.3 percent, to settle at $58.71 a barrel, ahead of expiry. The more active February futures lost 45 cents to settle at $59.46 a barrel. U.S. crude dropped 52 cents, or 1 percent, to $50.93 a barrel.

prices also came under pressure as the dollar rose against a basket of currencies <.DXY> as investors hoped that the and would come to an agreement over trade talks.

A stronger dollar makes more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Prices pared losses from session lows after reported OPEC's advisory committee suggested decreasing production by 1.3 million barrels per day from last month's levels, traders said.

"bounced back late in the day on Friday on reports that the committee had suggested a 1.3 million barrel per day cut from the October level," said Fawad Razaqzada, at

"The pressure has certainly been building as prices continued to fall amid ongoing concerns over excessive supply and lower demand growth ... If no action is taken, could certainly drop further, while a production cut should lead to a sizeable rebound for these severely oversold levels."

Before the meeting in Vienna, the world's top three producers - the United States, and - will be part of a meeting this weekend of the Group of 20 industrialized nations in Buenos Aires,

Russia's minister will meet his Saudi counterpart at the summit in and discuss an reduction in 2019, RIA agency cited Novak as saying.

He was also reported to have said that Russia's 2019 is expected at the same level as this year but could be adjusted, depending on a deal between and non-OPEC members.

Surging in the United States, and by members of the Middle East-dominated OPEC has helped fill global inventories and create a glut in some markets.

U.S. rose about 129,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September to a fresh record of about 11.5 million bpd, the Information Administration said in a monthly report.

A slowdown in oil demand growth is compounding the emerging oversupply.

"At the heart of the malaise are concerns that OPEC+ will not do enough to address the current oversupply," said Stephen Brennock, at brokerage

The weakness in sentiment is visible in the Brent forward price curve, which now has prices for future delivery above those for immediate dispatch, a structure known as "contango", which can make it attractive to put oil into storage.

A monthly survey indicates that output in November from the 12 OPEC members with supply reduction targets under a previous production agreement fell 110,000 bpd from October, while total OPEC output decreased by 160,000 bpd.

A indicator suggested that expectations of a production cut were weakening. The tool, known as OpecWatch, uses Intermediate to calculate the probabilities of certain outcomes of OPEC meetings. The market sentiment has shifted from a 70 percent expectation of a small production cut earlier this week to about a 56 percent chance on Friday, said.

are rising fast in the United States, where crude stocks have risen for 10 straight weeks to 450.5 million barrels, the most in a year, as production remains at an all-time high of 11.7 million bpd, according to the Information Administration (EIA).

U.S. this week added for a third week in four and increased the rig count for the fifth month in a row, General Electric Co's firm said in its closely followed report. . [RIG/U]

Graphic: Glut pushes crude into contango (https://tmsnrt.rs/2Q7oKbO)

Graphic: U.S. & storage levels (https://tmsnrt.rs/2PvIZ3l)

Graphic: Russian, U.S. & Saudi (https://tmsnrt.rs/2CTwqaq)

Graphic: oil curve falls into contango (https://tmsnrt.rs/2R1kFDa)

(Reporting by and Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York, Christopher Johnson in and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by and Marguerita Choy)

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sat, December 01 2018. 02:09 IST