Oil Prices Little Changed After OPEC Meeting
September 22 2017 - 3:53PM
Dow Jones News
By Amrith Ramkumar and Neanda Salvaterra
Oil prices wobbled between small gains and losses Friday after
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its
allies didn't make a recommendation on whether the group should
extend its oil cuts.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery edged up 11 cents, or
0.2%, to $50.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent
crude, the global benchmark, inched up 0.8% to $56.86.
OPEC members met Friday ahead of the cartel's next full meeting
in November amid uncertainty about whether the group will continue
to limit supply. OPEC and several other producers agreed late last
year to cap production through March 2018.
Representatives from Nigeria and Libya, two of the countries
that were exempt from the production cut deal and have posed a
challenge to OPEC by boosting production, didn't commit to supply
caps Friday. Investors and analysts said OPEC is keeping the
prospect for future production cuts on the table without committing
until it has more information.
"There's a little bit of disappointment for the market that
there wasn't an extension recommended," said John Kilduff, founding
partner at Again Capital. Still, Mr. Kilduff said it was
encouraging that Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said the
group held "intensive discussions" about Nigerian and Libyan
production.
Crude oil prices have risen in three consecutive weeks and are
up 7.3% this month, with demand increasing recently as refiners
that were disrupted by Hurricane Harvey bring operations back
online.
Many investors and analysts are waiting to see if prices can
stay at their current levels as refiners put hurricane-related
disruptions behind them. Fall is traditionally a weaker demand
season.
"Any near term corrections over the next month I'm going to be
looking at as buying opportunities in oil," said John Caruso,
senior trader at RJ O'Brien & Associates LLC. Mr. Caruso said
he was encouraged by increased demand recently and would be bullish
on oil prices if they get above $52, a key technical level.
Investors and analysts were also keeping an eye on a Kurdish
independence referendum planned for Monday.
One of the regions that will vote on its independence is the
province of Kirkuk in Iraq. The area has oil reserves of around 45
billion barrels, similar to Nigeria, according to analysts.
The outcome of the referendum could cause disruptions to the oil
sector in the region because "unrest cannot be ruled out," said
Commerzbank analysts in a Friday note.
Gasoline futures rose 1.5% to $1.6684 a gallon, and diesel
futures advanced 0.1% to $1.8163, posting their highest close since
July 2015. Diesel futures have risen in five straight weeks.
--Benoit Faucon contributed to this article.
Write to Neanda Salvaterra at neanda.salvaterra@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2017 15:38 ET (19:38 GMT)
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