Oil Futures Fall As OPEC Delays Meeting

Oil futures are sharply lower after OPEC said its weekend meeting has been pushed back to November 30, and ahead of EIA’s closely watched crude inventories report. WTI for January delivery is off 4.1% at $74.59 a barrel. The market is looking to the meeting of OPEC and its allies with expectations that Saudi and Russian output cuts will be at least extended into 2024 and for possible further cuts by other members. The EIA is due to report crude and products inventories for last week at 10:30 am EST, and is expected to show a build of 100,000 barrels in crude stocks, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital, says the API reported “a massive increase in stockpile of over 9 million barrels,” contributing to the price drop. “This morning’s weakness confirms that the bearish technical outlook remains in place,” he says in a note.