Oil futures kicked off November with modest gains Monday after hitting multiyear highs last month, with investors expecting the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies to remain reluctant to accelerate production increases despite tightening crude supplies.
West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery
CL00,
CLZ21,
rose 41 cents, or 0.5%, to $83.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. benchmark rose 11% in October, but lost 0.9% last week, ending a streak of nine straight weekly gains. January Brent crude
BRN00,
BRNF22,
the global benchmark, was up 68 cents, or 0.8%, at $84.40 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Brent fell 1.3% last week but rose 7.5% in October.
The Biden administration has called on OPEC+ to boost output, but producers have remained reluctant. OPEC+ has so far stuck to a plan to boost output in monthly increments of 400,000 barrels a day, but members have struggled to hit that goal. The group is slated to meet Thursday.
Read: OPEC+ needs to ‘thread the needle’ between higher oil prices and losing market share
“We would expect noise from key consumers to increase over the remainder of the week…For now, it looks as though the group will try resist being more aggressive in its easing plan and stick to increasing output by 400,000 barrels per day per month,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, in a note.
The expected resumption of Iranian nuclear talks this month, meanwhile, could make OPEC+ members more reluctant to further boost output if there is the potential for higher Iranian exports, he said.
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