(Bloomberg) — Oil steadied after its biggest weekly loss in four, with the focus on an OPEC+ supply meeting on Sunday and US demand at the start of the summer driving season.
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Brent futures held above $82 a barrel after dropping 2.2% last week and touching the lowest since early February, while West Texas Intermediate was near $78. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will hold its policy meeting online, and is widely expected to prolong production cuts into the second half of 2024.
“Based on current market expectations that OPEC+ is likely to extend cuts, oil’s risks are skewed to the upside,” said Gao Jian, an analyst at Shandong-based Qisheng Futures Co.
Markets are closed on Monday for holidays in the UK and the US, where the Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer driving season. The number of people expected to fly over the weekend may be the highest in nearly 20 years, according to the American Automobile Association.
Brent is up about 7% this year, supported by persistent geopolitical risks and OPEC+’s 2 million barrels a day of output cuts. Still, futures have fallen since mid-April as nervousness that the conflict in the Middle East would spread and disrupt oil flows have eased.
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