Crude oil prices pared earlier losses on Monday after Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said futures prices do not reflect underlying fundamentals of supply and demand, which may require OPEC+ to tighten production when it meets next month.
“Extreme” volatility and lack of liquidity in the futures market are moving prices in ways that do not conform to normal supply and demand factors, which may spark OPEC+ to take action, the Saudi oil chief warned.
WTI September crude (CL1:COM) settled -0.6% to $90.23/bbl, trimming early losses after expectations increased over the weekend for an eventual nuclear deal with Iran that likely would allow more crude shipments.
All 11 S&P industry sectors are in negative territory, but energy (NYSEARCA:XLE) is holding up better than most, -0.4% after recovering much of its opening loss.
A handful of oil and gas firms are scratching out gains in Monday’s trading, including (APA) +0.9%, (CTRA) +0.8%, (MRO) +0.3%, (FANG) +0.3%, (BKR) +0.3%.
The Big Oil majors trade mostly with mild losses on the day with Shell (SHEL) -0.1%, (COP) -0.2%, (XOM) -0.3% and (CVX) -0.7%, but (BP) +0.5%.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) -2.7% after The Wall Street Journal reported Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is not expected to make a bid for full control of the company even after he received regulatory approval to buy as much as a 50% stake.
Despite surprisingly bullish data that showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories, front-month crude oil futures fell ~1.5% last week.
SOURCE: seekingalpha.com