Crude oil prices weaken; OPEC+ meeting, API stocks due by Investing.com

Investing.com — Oil prices retreated on Tuesday, adding to losses from the previous month, as tensions in the Middle East were overshadowed by weak global demand growth and concerns about rising supply.

By 09:20 ET (1320 GMT), futures were trading 0.9 percent lower at $67.58 a barrel, and the contract was down 0.8 percent at $71.11 a barrel. barrel.

Israel raids Lebanon

Israel said early Tuesday that its troops had begun “limited” raids against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon’s border area, a move that risks escalating a conflict in the oil-rich Middle East that threatens to embarrass the US and Iran.

A serious escalation of the conflict could affect global supply, given the importance of this oil-rich region, but “the market has become increasingly numb to tension in the region, given that, after nearly a year of conflict, still it had no impact. on oil production,” ING analysts said in a note.

China’s economic woes weigh heavily

The crude oil market struggled in September, mainly due to concerns over economic weakness in China, the world’s largest oil importer.

Data released on Monday indicated that the Chinese contracted sharply in September, a private sector survey showed on Monday.

Chinese authorities have announced a raft of stimulus measures in the past week in a bid to bring China’s growth in 2024 back to around the 5 percent target, but the private sector survey suggests more needs to be done.

Brent ended September down 9%, its third straight month of declines and its biggest monthly decline since November 2022. It also fell 17% in the third quarter for its biggest quarterly loss in a year. WTI fell 7% last month and is down 16% for the quarter.

OPEC+ will meet this week

OPEC members and allies, a group known as OPEC+, will hold their Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting on Wednesday.

The group is set to increase production by 180,000 barrels per day each month starting in December, so little change is expected at this meeting.

OPEC+ is currently cutting production by 5.86 million bpd, or about 5.7% of global demand.

The industry group is due to release its weekly estimate of US crude oil and fuel stockpiles for the week to September 27.