Oil prices stable ahead of OPEC+ meeting
Oil prices were relatively stable on March 4 ahead of key consultations between OPEC and its partners on whether to ease production cuts and after a record jump in U.S. crude oil stocks following Texan refinery outages.
It was reported that several OPEC+ sources on March 3 said that some members believe that oil output should remain unchanged and that it is not clear whether Saudi Arabia would end its voluntary cuts or extend them.
Brent crude futures were traded up 14 cents, or 0.2%, at$64.21 a barrel by 1250 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose to 25 cents, or 0.4% to $61.53, with both contracts moving in and out of the positive territory.
Analysts expect a four-month price rally from below $40 a barrel is now out of step with demand and that physical sale are not expected to match supply until later in 2021.
With projected prices above $60, some traders predicted OPEC+ producers could consider increasing output by about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) and expect Saudi Arabia to at least partially end its voluntary reduction of 1 million bpd.
