Oil prices decreased by 4% as the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, crumbled by 4.37% just below $75 a barrel, to $74.55, while Brent Crude, the international benchmark, dived below the $80 a barrel threshold, at $79.12, down by 4.26% on the day on Wednesday. And prices started dropping today after a Bloomberg report said that this weekend’s meeting of the OPEC+ group could be delayed.
Prior to the incident, the oil governing body, OPEC officially confirmed that the OPEC+ meeting scheduled for November 25 and 26, 2023, have been rescheduled to Thursday, 30 November 2023. Meanwhile, the meeting might have been delayed due to Saudi Arabia expressing dissatisfaction over the production levels of the other members, delegates have told Bloomberg, as a result of the ongoing debate and potential new disagreement among the OPEC+ members about the production cuts and who would be willing or unwilling to reduce production alongside the Saudis.
And most analysts had expected that OPEC’s top producer, Saudi Arabia, would extend its voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) into 2024 prior to the announced delay, considering the latest slide in oil prices to $80 and the typically weak period for oil demand in the first quarter of every year. Investors now anticipate the proposed Market talk by OPEC+, believing they could announce a deeper cut at the group’s meeting over the weekend of November 25-26.
