By William Watts
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the weekly streak for oil futures. The article has been corrected.
Oil futures fell Friday, dropping for a fifth straight week as investors awaited a delayed meeting of OPEC+ members next week.
Price action
West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery CL.1 CL00 CLF24, the U.S. benchmark, fell $1.56, or 2%, from Wednesday’s close to finish at $75.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. WTI futures didn’t settle Thursday due to the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday.January Brent crude BRNF24, the global benchmark, dropped 84 cents, or 1%, to end at $80.48 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. December gasoline RBZ23 fell 3% to close at $2.165 a gallon, while December heating oil HOZ23 lost 1.9% to settle at $2.836 a gallon.December natural gas NGZ23 dropped 1.5% to $2855 per million British thermal units.
Market drivers
The decline left WTI with a 0.7% weekly loss, while Brent lost less than 0.1%. It was the fifth straight weekly decline for both benchmarks based on front-month contracts, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Oil futures remained under pressure after a Wednesday tumble that came after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — known as OPEC+ — postponed a meeting that had been set for Sunday until Nov. 30.
The delay came as OPEC members Angola and Nigeria pushed to be allowed higher output levels, news reports said, easing fears of a deeper rift that could threaten the continuation of production cuts into next year, including a 1 million barrel-a-day reduction by Saudi Arabia.
The delay pushed oil futures down on Wednesday, with Brent dipping below $80 a barrel.
“The key point is that the meeting’s postponement was not due to a change of heart by Saudi Arabia. In other words, the kingdom still appears willing to shoulder the lion’s share of the supply cut needed to stabilize the oil market,” Barbara Lambrecht, commodity analyst at Commerzbank, said in a note.
“It therefore seems more or less certain once again that it will continue its voluntary production cut in the first quarter, especially as the brief price slide revealed that significant price losses would otherwise be on the cards,” she said. “The only question is whether the cartel will be able to agree on any cuts that go beyond this.”
Commodities Corner: What’s at stake for oil prices as OPEC+ delays closely watched meeting
-William Watts
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11-24-23 1434ET
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Read More: Oil prices fall for 5th straight week as traders look ahead to delayed OPEC+