The Oct WTI trading session closed at 69.15, had a high of 70.82, a low of 68.75, and cash price is at 69.16(-2.28), while open interest came in at 259,532. Lower on the day by -0.05(-0.07%). CLV traded below its 50 day (77.61), its 20 day (74.74) and its 7 day (72.66) moving averages. As I speculated here last week OPEC+ is indeed considering postponing their output cuts because of where the cash and futures markets are trading. According to Bloomberg and CNBC via anonymous sources within OPEC+, OPEC+ has agreed to postpone the planned reduction of its production cuts, originally set to begin next month. The new plan is to start easing output cuts this December and which would last through November 2025. According to official policy, OPEC+ is set to produce a total of 39.725 million barrels per day next year. Prices also received a boost as U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by roughly 7 million barrels for the week ending August 30, according to the EIA. U.S. crude oil inventories are about 5% below their five year average for this time of year, coming in at 418.3 million barrels. This comes after the API on Wednesday reported its own inventory estimate of a ~7.4 million barrel draw for the last week of August. A potential resolution to the Libyan oil export issue seems to be emerging, which has played a role in the oil price slump this week. According to engineers who spoke with Reuters, an oil tanker has been granted approval to dock and load crude oil at Libya’s Zueitina port on Friday. Tomorrow we’ll get more information on the state of the U.S. economy with a very important Jobs Report (in my opinion).
