Oil prices post first quarterly loss ahead of OPEC + meeting

Global oil prices posted their first quarterly loss in two years at the end of a volatile trading week on Friday, as investors weighed up possible output cuts by the Opec+ super group of crude producers against the weakening global economic outlook and increasing inflation.

Persecondnews.com gathered that Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, settled 2.34 per cent lower at $85.14. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, fell more than 2.14 per cent to $79.49 a barrel.

Both benchmarks made slight gains for the week, their first in five weeks.

However, their quarterly losses were more pronounced, with Brent falling about 22 per cent in the three months to the end of September, and WTI shedding nearly 25 per cent.

“It has been over two years since oil posted a quarterly loss, but a miserable quarter filled with a doom and gloom global economic outlook meant crude’s losses were going to be severe,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.

Oil prices have taken a battering in recent weeks, pulled down by a strong US dollar  and a worsening global economic outlook.

Falling prices are a concern for Opec+ producers, who are meeting in Vienna on Wednesday to discuss market dynamics and are likely to agree on further output cuts to support prices.

Most brokerages have said that Opec+ has to make oil cuts between 500,000 bpd and 1 million bpd to keep Brent above $90 a barrel.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) expects global growth to fall to 2.2 per cent in 2023, compared with its 2022 estimate of 3 per cent.