Oil prices wobble on Thursday, November 17, as expectations of an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, deal to limit production were offset by oversupply concerns.
Brent crude oil was down 37 cents a barrel at $46.26 by 2:45 p.m. ET (1945 GMT). U.S. light crude settled down 15 cents at $45.42.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Thursday he was optimistic that the cartel would formalise a preliminary oil output deal reached in Algeria in September, Reuters reports.
“I’m still optimistic that the consensus reached in Algeria for capping production will translate, God willing, into caps on states’ levels and fair and balanced cuts among countries,” he told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV.
Falih said he believed the market was on its way to becoming balanced and that an agreement by OPEC at its meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30 would speed the recovery.
He also said OPEC should cut oil output to 32.5 million barrels per day (bpd), the lower end of a previously agreed range.
“Two things the market is looking at: they’re looking at the OPEC news, and they’re looking at Janet Yellen,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “Right now with the dollar turning positive, I think that’s where we pull back.”
The market was also still under pressure from U.S. Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday that showed a larger-than-expected crude build of 5.3 million barrels in the week to Nov. 11.
Stockpiles at the U.S. delivery hub for crude futures in Cushing, Oklahoma, which the EIA said increased nearly 700,00 barrels last week, rose 303,001 barrels in the week to Nov. 15, according to traders, citing energy monitoring service Genscape.
Crude inventories were also rising elsewhere, thanks to record output by OPEC, which pumps around 40 percent of world oil supply.
