Oil Volatile On OPEC Headlines, Losses Largely Recouped

Brent crude dipped sharply post the Asia close on Wednesday, hitting $78.40/bbl in NY trade. Headlines crossed of a delay to the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, which weighed on prospects of further supply cuts. Still, by the end of the session we had recouped a large proportion of the losses, ending near $82/bbl, -0.59% down for the session. WTI fell to ~$73.80/bbl but now tracks around $76.75/bbl.

• The conference delay comes amid disagreement on output assessment from African nations. See this link for more details. The meeting has been pushed back to November 30 from the originally planned 26th.
• Elsewhere, another US crude inventory stock build, also at Cushing weighed on the WTI-Brent spread, while a gulf oil spill in the US has halted 62k barrels in production (see this BBG link).
• For WTI, moving average studies are in a bear-mode position, highlighting bearish sentiment. The focus is on $70.96, a Fibonacci retracement. Key resistance is at $79.65, the Nov 14 high.
• For Brent, it is a similar backdrop. Note the 20-day EMA is around $83.30/bbl, while on the downside Nov 16 lows rest at $76.60/bbl.