LONDON--Crude oil prices were marginally down on Thursday as all
the market's attention remains focused on whether next week's
meeting of the world oil cartel will halt a slump.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meets on
Nov. 27 and investors are seeking guidance on whether production
will be reduced to prop up prices that have fallen more than 30%
since June.
"No OPEC meeting for a long time has been preceded by such
amounts of speculation and conspiracy theories as next Thursday's
gathering in Vienna," JBC Energy analysts wrote in a note to
clients.
Central to the intrigue is why Saudi Arabia hasn't yet
intervened to support falling oil prices, and whether it or any of
its OPEC partners will do so in the coming months.
"Depending on which survey one reads, OPEC produced between
30.25 million and 31 million barrels a day in October," notes
Commerzbank analysts. But the International Energy Agency and OPEC
estimate that the need for oil from the group is only 29.2 million
barrels a day.
A small change would therefore "not be sufficient to halt the
slump in oil prices," Commerzbank said.
"OPEC will probably see itself forced at a later date to agree
on a more drastic production cut that better reflects the lower
[demand for its oil]," they said.
Brent crude for January delivery was down 18 cents at $77.92 a
barrel on ICE Futures Europe. WTI for December was down 16 cents at
$74.42 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
ICE gasoil for December changed hands at $690.50 a metric ton,
down $7.00. Gasoline for January delivery was down 156 points to
$2.0064 a gallon.
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