Oil prices are gaining in value today. Market participants are focused on the OPEC+ meeting that will take place on March 3-4.
Brent future for May delivery settled at $63.35 per barrel. At the same time, WTI futures for May delivery reached the level of $60.98 per barrel.
Investors are preoccupied by a possible decision of OPEC+. The fact is that the epidemiological situation is getting better and the pandemic is declining. For example, at the beginning of this week, the US reported on the smallest number of new virus cases in the last four months.
Yesterday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) disclosed data on the US oil inventories. However, the data failed to influence the market sentiment. This could be explained by the Arctic storm in Texas and the surrounding states that stopped almost 20% of all refining capacity in the United States, which is equivalent to about 1.1 million barrels of oil production. That is why indicators of oil inventories were at their lowest levels since March. Today, analysts expect a report on crude oil inventories from the US Energy Department. Taking into account the recent drop in oil production, crude oil inventories may rise by 1.3 million barrels.
Against the background of this news, a meeting of the ministerial monitoring committee will be held today. According to various reports, the alliance members expect a recovery in demand this year. However, they are still very cautious about the market situation. Experts believe that the majority of OPEC+ member countries will vote to increase oil production by 0.5 million barrels per day from April. By the way, Saudi Arabia's voluntary production cuts of 1 million barrels per day ends in March.
The JMC meeting, co-chaired by representatives of Russia and Saudi Arabia, usually makes recommendations to the ministers who will meet for a final decision on March 4. According to some sources, OPEC+ technical committee has concluded that the recovery of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day on the energy market will not have a significant impact on the balance. However, it is worth recognizing that if this assumption is confirmed, this increase could cause a strong correction in the market. Nevertheless, the current state of the global economy does not yet suggest a sustained recovery in demand.
