Oil trades higher today as OPEC decided to ignore request by Trump and stick with it’s June agreement on production. The committed said in a statement that it was satisfied “regarding the current oil market outlook, with an overall healthy balance between supply and demand”. Also, it urged “countries with spare capacity to work with customers to meet their demand during the remaining month of 2018”.
“The markets are adequately supplied. I don’t know of any refiner in the world who is looking for oil and is not able to get it,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters as OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers gathered in Algiers. And, “given the numbers we saw today, that (an output increase in 2019) is highly unlikely unless we have surprises on the supply and demand.”
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak also said no immediate output increase was necessary. He added “oil demand will be declining in the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year. So far, we have decided to stick to our June agreements.”
WTI crude oil is currently up 1.09% at 71.55.
