Oil prices were flat on Thursday after a surprise jump in U.S. gasoline inventories and postponement of the OPEC+ meeting on output policy to Dec. 5 from Dec. 1.
The group pumps about half the world’s oil but has maintained production cuts to support prices during an extended period of weak global demand. That has pushed OPEC+ to repeatedly delay the rolling back of those cuts. A further deferment has mostly been factored in to oil prices already, said Suvro Sarkar at DBS Bank. “The only question is whether it’s a one-month pushback, or three, or even longer.”
Slowing fuel demand growth in top consumers China and the United States has weighed heavily on oil prices this year.Further price pressure has come from a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which began on Wednesday and has eased concern over potential disruption to oil supplies from the Middle East.