Oil rose modestly as traders assessed the latest salvo from OPEC+ kingpins Saudi Arabia and Russia to prop up prices by curbing supply.
West Texas Intermediate edged above $70 a barrel, clawing back some of the 1.2% loss in the previous session even as the cuts were announced. Saudi Arabia said it will prolong a unilateral 1 million barrel a day supply cut by one month into August, a move traders had expected. Separately, Russia announced a fresh 500,000 barrel a day reduction for exports and output, also in August, while Algeria chipped in with a more modest 20,000 barrel a day reduction.
Oil has lost 13% this year despite concerted efforts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to buttress prices — and take the fight to short sellers betting on losses — by curtailing output. The drop has been driven by a souring macroeconomic outlook in the US, China and Europe, as well as still-healthy supplies from Russia and other nations including Iran.
Although OPEC+ supplies have been pared back, oil markets remain in contango, a bearish pattern in which near-term prices are cheaper than those further out. West Texas Intermediate’s prompt spread — the difference between its two nearest contracts — was 12 cents a barrel in contango compared with 5 cents in backwardation, the opposite pattern, two months ago.
To get Bloomberg’s Energy Daily newsletter direct into your inbox, click here.
