Oil prices ended with slight changes on Tuesday, November 8, as the market awaits next president of the United States, Reuters reports.
Brent LCOc1 futures lost 11 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $46.04 a barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 rose 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $44.98 per barrel.
Brent crude’s premium to U.S. futures WTCLc1-LCOc1 declined to its lowest level in almost five months on Tuesday as the global benchmark weakened relative to the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract due in part to projections of record OPEC output.
“Everyone is on hold to see what happens in the election. There was too much uncertainty for the market to develop a clear direction in price,” said James Williams, president of energy consultant WTRG Economics in Arkansas, noting the market was also waiting for a couple of inventory reports.
At 4:30 p.m. EST (2130GMT) on Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) will release its data on U.S. oil inventories for the week ended Nov. 4. On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its weekly petroleum status report at 10:30 a.m. EST.
Analysts said they expected crude stocks to rise 1.3 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll. [EIA/S]
“Both the election and the inventory numbers should be much clearer Wednesday,” Williams at WTRG said.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast demand for its oil will rise in the next three years, suggesting its 2014 decision to let prices fall to curb costlier rival supplies is delivering higher market share. [OPEC/M]
The group meets on Nov. 30 and has pledged to reach a deal on cutting output to try to reduce a two-year-old global surplus.
