Oil prices decline ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Source: Xinhua| 2021-09-01 04:35:10|Editor: huaxia

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices fell on Tuesday as investors are awaiting a key meeting of major producing countries.

The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery lost 71 cents to settle at 68.50 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery, which expired at the end of the trading session, decreased 42 cents to close at 72.99 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, widely known as OPEC+, are slated to meet on Wednesday and discuss their output strategy.

Traders were also assessing the damage in the U.S. Gulf Coast due to Hurricane Ida.

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement on Tuesday estimated that nearly 93.7 percent of current oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was shut in, along with around 94.5 percent of natural-gas production.

"So far, the prospect of reduced crude oil demand from U.S. refineries in the wake of Hurricane Ida and the expansion of OPEC+ oil production is not weighing on prices," Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said Tuesday in a note, adding "the upcoming inventory data will certainly be influenced significantly by the hurricane." Enditem

KEY WORDS: US,Oil price,Down
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