Crude oil futures fell slightly by midday Wednesday, taking a breather following the previous session's sharp gains, as the market awaited a closely watched decision by OPEC and its allies on its production policy in the near term.
At 12:05 p.m. ET, January West Texas Intermediate crude futures were off by around 60cts to $69.35/bbl, and February WTI fell by 55cts to $68.95/bbl.
London-based February Brent dropped by 50cts to $73.10/bbl and March Brent decreased by a similar amount to $72.70/bbl.
On Tuesday, both oil benchmarks finished almost $2 higher on expectations that OPEC+ members would continue to limit production. Analysts widely expect OPEC+ to extend the oil cartel's 2.2-million b/d production cuts through the first quarter of 2025 when the group is scheduled to meet on Thursday.
ULSD futures underperformed RBOB after the latest Energy Information Administration data showed outsized buildups in both gasoline and distillate stocks.
January ULSD slid 3cts to $2.1875/gal and February ULSD declined 2.6cts to $2.1940/gal. January RBOB was unchanged at $1.9625/gal and February RBOB inched down 0.5ct to $1.9705/gal.
Earlier Wednesday, EIA reported mixed petroleum supply and demand data for the week ended Friday, including a 5.1 million bbl drop in U.S. commercial crude oil stocks. However, distillate stocks jumped 3.4 million bbl, while gasoline inventories also rose 2.4 million bbl.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-04-24 1253ET
