Crude oil futures closed higher on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia denied a Wall Street Journal report and insisted that Saudi Arabia and members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would not hold talks on a possible increase in oil production.
- WTI crude futures rose 91 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $80.95 a barrel.
- BRENT crude futures rose 91 cents, or 1%, to close at $88.36 a barrel.
The Wall Street Journal, citing sources in the OPEC ministerial circle, reports that Saudi Arabia and OPEC members will discuss increasing output by 500,000 barrels per day at the OPEC+ meeting on December 4.
Saudi Arabian news agency SPA then reported that Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman denied the Wall Street Journal report and stressed that Saudi Arabia and OPEC members will not discuss production increases.
“It is known that OPEC+ will not discuss any decision before the meeting. And the current oil production cut of 2 million barrels per day will continue until the end of 2023 and, if necessary, further production cuts will be made to balance supply and demand. We are ready to intervene at any time,” Prince bin Salman said.
The oil market has been pressured by the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Recently, the Chinese capital Beijing announced the closure of parks and museums and urged people to stay indoors. On Monday (Nov. 21), 1,438 new infections were recorded, the highest level since 962 were recorded on Sunday (Nov. 20).
Investors today await the release of U.S. crude oil inventories by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Analysts expect that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels last week.
The Spot Market is Open
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
| Energy Updated at | USD Price | Change | %Change |
| Crude Oil 12.40 | 80.77 | -0.18 | -0.22% |