(Bloomberg) — Oil was steady after falling on Wednesday as traders look to US stockpile data and an OPEC+ meeting on the weekend for more clarity on the outlook for supply and demand.
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Global benchmark Brent crude traded near $84 a barrel after falling 0.7% in the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate was close to $79. Commodities followed bonds and stocks lower on Wednesday after a disappointing sale of US Treasuries. That offset nervousness due to another attack on a ship in the Red Sea and Israeli comments that it probably wouldn’t be able to defeat Hamas before the end of this year.
Oil has risen this year on geopolitical conflicts and curbs by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies. The group will likely consider factors including a drop in prices over the past month, a weaker demand outlook in China and healthy supplies from the Americas when it meets online on Sunday. It’s expected to prolong output cuts into the second half of 2024.
“There’s some caution in the market, with attention on slowing consumption just before the high demand summer season,” said Will Sungchil Yun, a senior commodities analyst at SI Securities Corp. “But a surprise from OPEC+ can’t be completely ruled out and that could drive prices immediately higher.”
The market will also be looking at official US oil and fuel stockpiles data due later on Thursday for a read on demand as the summer driving season gets underway. US crude inventories fell by 6.49 million barrels last week, according to the American Petroleum Institute, which would be the largest drop since January if confirmed by official figures.
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