Oil prices steadied on Monday, October 9, after one of the most bearish weeks in months, propped up by OPEC comments signaling the group and other producers may take further action to restore market balance in the long term.
Global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was down 28 cents at $55.34 a barrel at 0938 GMT. Last week, Brent dropped 3.3 percent, its biggest weekly loss since June 2016.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were trading at $49.32, up 3 cents. WTI’s losses last week came to 4.6 percent.
Oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico started returning to service after Hurricane Nate had forced the shutdown of more than 90 percent of crude output in the area. The prospective restarts kept price gains in check.
“Oil is having trouble to find direction. Mixed signals keep investors busy changing their minds,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro.
“There is a good chance that we will continue to trade a bit sideways in the coming weeks up to the OPEC meeting.”
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is due to meet in Vienna on Nov. 30, when it will discuss its pact to reduce output in order to prop up the market.
OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on Sunday that consultations were under way for an extension of the agreement beyond March 2018 and that more oil-producing nations may join the supply pact, possibly at the November meeting.
He also said OPEC members and other producers may have to take some “extraordinary measures” to ensure the market is in balance in the long term.
Market sentiment remains strong. Money managers raised their bullish bets on U.S. crude futures for the third week in a row, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported on Friday.
Investors raised their combined futures and options position in WTI on the NYMEX and ICE markets by 3,211 contracts to 288,766 in the week to Oct. 3, its highest since mid-August, the data showed.
