OPEC Ends Meeting on Oil Output for Now. Stay Tuned for Friday.

Investors will have to wait until Friday, at the soonest, to find out whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will increase production, as expected.

OPEC said in a statement on Thursday that a widely anticipated meeting on output had ended for the day and would continue on Friday. “The 31st Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee and the 18th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting have adjourned and will continue tomorrow, Friday, 2 July 2021,” OPEC said.

Many market watchers expect the cartel to increase production, yet the price of oil has gained on Thursday , remaining near a multi-year high. Reuters reported Friday that the United Arab Emirates had blocked a proposal that would have increased output.

An earlier Reuters report said the cartel was considering a production increase of 400,000 barrels a day, well below the roughly 500,000 the Wall Street Journal reported in June. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said earlier this week they expect an increase of between 500,000 and 1 million barrels per day.

The increase would mark a step toward unwinding reductions made in response to the collapse in demand triggered by the pandemic. Demand is rising as economic growth picks up.

West Texas Intermediate crude was at $74.83 shortly after the latest OPEC news emerged, down from $76.16 earlier in the day. That was the highest level since September 2018.

Jacob Sonenshine

source:barrons.com