Oil Maintains Gains as Market Awaits Crucial OPEC+ Meeting

According to Yahoo News, oil prices remained steady after a two-day increase, with the market anticipating a crucial OPEC+ meeting that could result in extended or deeper production cuts. West Texas Intermediate traded below $78 a barrel, after rising 4% over the previous two sessions, while global benchmark Brent was above $83. OPEC+ heavyweight Saudi Arabia is urging fellow members to join it in restraining output to prevent a renewed oil surplus next year, but is facing resistance from countries such as Angola and Nigeria ahead of a virtual meeting later Thursday. A deeper collective cutback of 1 million barrels a day or more may be considered, according to delegates. The lack of group-wide reductions could lead to further weakness in oil prices, which have dropped 14% over the past two months, due to abundant supplies from outside the producer group, including record exports from the US. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Eurasia Group have recently highlighted looser supply-demand balances, following the International Energy Agency's earlier statement that the market would return to a surplus next year. In the US, crude stockpiles increased for a sixth week, reaching their highest levels since July, as reported by the Energy Information Administration. Exports of crude and products rose to a record of almost 4.5 million barrels a day last week, the agency added. The American Petroleum Institute had previously predicted a decline in nationwide inventories.