WTI crude oil prices are moving towards the best week since late February as the crude oil prices rallied almost 2% yesterday, increasing the week’s surge to about 10.3%. If the commodity can rein in these gains, crude oil will have the best 5-day performance. A position was last seen when Russia invaded Ukraine, fostering supply disruption concerns from one of the world’s largest oil exporters.
OPEC+ has been the market’s focus for over 24 hours. The oil-producing cartel has agreed to reduce production starting from November by 2 million barrels per day. This would mark the largest reduction since members started working together during the global coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
In reality, production cuts might come in below expectations. According to Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Slaman, participants, for some reason, are struggling to meet production targets. The United States government noted that it would release about 10 million barrels from strategic reserves to remedy the situation.
The markets are, however, skeptical about the nation’s resolve as the Department of Energy (DOE) data showed that the United States oil inventories unexpectedly dropped by 1.36 million barrels last week.
The reduction in supply has fostered WTI’s surge on Wednesday, in addition to the boost from the OPEC+ announcement. Risk appetite was heightened as Wall Street reversed deep losses intraday to finish in the green.
Traders eagerly await the latest jobs report from the United States, which will be released this Friday at 12:30 GMT. Non-farm payrolls are rising 260k in September, down from 315k prior. The unemployment rate is also steady at 3.7%.