By Ken Afor
On Thursday, oil prices dropped by 1% in the morning market, building on the losses from the day before following the decision of OPEC+ to push back their scheduled ministerial meeting, leading to the belief that they may not scale back production as much as had been initially predicted.
Brent futures plunged 81 cents, amounting to a whopping 1%, to a low of $81.15 a barrel after a huge 4% dip on Wednesday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude followed, decreasing 72 cents by 0.9% to touch a low of $76.40 after a large 5% decrease during the proceeding session.
It was expected that trading would be subdued because of the Thanksgiving holiday in America.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, such as Russia, unexpectedly postponed a ministerial meeting that would have been about possible oil production reduction to November 30th.
Before the gathering initially planned for November 26, OPEC+ sources disclosed that producers were having difficulty reaching a consensus on output levels and consequently, possible cuts.
However, three OPEC+ sources linked easing of investor concerns to African countries within the group, which are smaller producers.
Queries concerning OPEC+ production have been raised after figures indicated U.S. crude stocks rose by 8.7 million barrels during the past week, astonishingly higher than the 1.16-million increase anticipated by analysts.
In its report issued on Wednesday, energy services firm Baker Hughes (BKR.O) stated that the number of U.S. oil rigs had not changed from 500 in the week leading up to November 22.
An underwater pipeline leak led to the U.S. Coast Guard having to shut in about 61,165 barrels of crude oil production a day in the Gulf of Mexico, equaling around 3% of the total daily output, on Wednesday.
