Oil edges down on doubts about OPEC-led cuts

NEW YORK — Oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday amid investor doubts that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will agree to a production cut large enough to make a significant dent in the global glut of crude as US drilling rises.

OPEC will meet on Nov. 30 in Vienna to decide on the details of an agreement to cut output that the group has been trying to hammer out since September.

Oil prices fluctuated throughout the day, starting lower in the morning and later briefly turning positive after the Energy Information Administration said US crude stocks unexpectedly fell 1.3 million barrels last week after three straight weeks of builds.

Reports that US drillers added rigs this week tempered the gains ahead of the settlement.

In the US market, West Texas Intermediate ( WTI) crude oil futures settled down 7 cents, or 0.2%, at $47.96 a barrel.

Brent crude futures settled down 17 cents, or 0.35% at $48.95 a barrel.

Calendar spreads, the difference in price between one month and the next in the futures market, showed little signs that traders are pricing in a big change in market fundamentals.

The front to second- month WTI calendar spread traded at its widest level in seven months on Tuesday, although it narrowed slightly on Wednesday. The one to six- month spread traded at one of the widest levels since August.

The WTI cash roll, which allows physical traders to roll long positions forward, traded down to negative $1.80 a barrel on Tuesday, the weakest since March.

All are indications that traders expect little change in oversupply in the market in the near term.

“Looking at the forward curve, the spread has gotten substantially weaker on the WTI side… so that’s bearish and pressures the front of the curve,” said Tariq Zahir, an analyst at Tyche Capital Advisors in New York.

“There’s going to be some cut, but is Saudi Arabia really going to take the lion’s share of the cut?”

Doubts remain over whether the group will agree to a proposed cut of 4-4.5% that has been discussed. That would imply a supply cut of more than 1.2 million barrels per day, according to Reuters calculations.

Iraq has been one of the more reluctant members to agree to a cut, but Prime Minister Haider Alabadi told reporters on Wednesday in Baghdad that they were willing to lower their output.

Non- OPEC member Russia said it would cut output, but domestic oil firms have not worked out details, muddying the outlook for cutting production.

US oil drillers added three rigs in the week to Nov. 23, bringing the total count up to 474, the most since January, but still below the 555 rigs seen a year ago, according to energy service provider Baker Hughes, Inc. —