Oil times rose on Wednesday, seeking support following a report that the Petroleum Exporting Countries Agency and its allies were considering rolling production cuts into April instead of easing them.
Traders had been looking for the agency, known as OPEC +, to reduce production invitations in April, allowing production to rise by around 500,000 barrels per day. Reuters reported on Wednesday that some OPEC + members had argued for maintaining loops into April amid concerns about precarious demand.
The report said it was unclear whether Saudi Arabia, which cut production by 1 million barrels per day in February and March, would decline. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that OPEC + was ready to go ahead with an increase in output.
In the “back and forth” game, now I would expect any increase above 500,000 [barrels a day] a gradual negative for oil, ”Stephen Innes, Axi’s chief global market strategist, said in a note.
“While Saudi may choose to delay their 1mb / d unilateral cut, the high oil prices are likely to force Russia and others to push back more than 500,000 b / d, so I think there is a greater likelihood of an OPEC + meeting tomorrow being negative rather than a positive battle machine, ”he said.
West Texas Raw Intermediate for delivery in April CL.1,
CLJ21,
rose 71 cents, or 1.2%, to $ 60.46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude BRN00,
BRNK21,
the global benchmark, up 65 cents, or 1%, at $ 63.35 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supply rose nearly 7.4 million barrels for the week ending Feb. 26, according to sources. The data also show that gasoline stock fell by 9.9 million barrels, while distilling investments declined by around 9.1 million barrels.
Closer investment data from the Energy Information Administration will be released on Wednesday. On average, the EIA is expected to show crude investments up 1.3 million barrels, according to a study by analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts. The survey also shows expectations for a reduction in deposits of 2.9 million barrels for gasoline and 3.9 million barrels for brewers.