The trading in US crude is likely to be limited on Monday because of the US Labor Day holiday.
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Brent North Sea crude for November fell 73 cents to $46.90 a barrel compared with the previous day’s closing level.
Even by Crude Oil’s usual high volatility, these were very large moves.
However, Saudi Arabia’s Mr al-Falih said that freezing output was not “necessary” now.
Brent oil dropped after a pledge by Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia to cooperate to stabilize the market failed to include any specific measures to bolster prices. It was a classic case of “buy the rumour, sell the fact”. For example, at April’s massively anticipated OPEC meeting about a freeze in production, Saudi Arabia refused to cooperate unless Iran joined in any production freeze, and, as a result the meeting ended up as a damp squib.
WTI for October delivery was at US$45.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 62US cents from Friday’s close.
Russia’s Novak said he was open to ideas on what cut-off period to use if producer countries made a decision to freeze output.
World oil prices nudged lower Tuesday as doubts grew over a Russian-Saudi pledge to address a chronic global supply glut.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers such as Russian Federation will hold informal talks in Algeria later in September.
28, representatives of 73 member states of the International Energy Forum (IEF) are set to meet in the Algerian capital to discuss oil-related issues.
At a news conference he said: “I believe it to be fair for Iran to reach pre-sanction levels of extraction”.
Kuwait “backs the outcome of these consultations for the sake of achieving a balance in the markets”, acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh said.
Oil’s rise had its the second solid rise in a row as news of the Saudi/Russia pact fanned speculation that major producers could strike a firmer deal in at a meeting Algeria later this month.
For his part, al-Falih later remarked that the freeze “is not the only solution” – but he refused to elaborate further, other than to say that his kingdom will try and encourage other members to consider a production freeze during the Algeria talks.
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Crude oil prices tumbled in the middle of last week as market analysts discounted signs of bullish momentum building in the second half of the year.
