Crude Oil Futures Edge Lower After OPEC Meet

Crude oil futures were marginally lower during mid-morning trade in Asia Friday after an OPEC meeting on Thursday that saw no further cuts in crude production and bearish market reports on oil fundamentals.
Ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, coupled with geopolitical risks in the Middle East and OPEC production cuts, kept prices moving within a tight range Friday morning, analysts said, S&P Global reported.
On Friday, Brent November futures were down 22 cents per barrel (0.36%) from Thursday's settle at $60.20 per barrel, while the New York Mercantile Exchange October light sweet crude futures contract was down 20 cents per barrel at $54.91.
OPEC and its allies met in Abu Dhabi for the Join Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting Thursday, where they agreed to defer any changes to their current 1.2 million bpd supply cut accord until the full coalition meets December 5-6 in Vienna.
"One thing I can report is that there is a clear-cut readiness to be responsible and responsive," Saudi Arabia's new energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said in a press briefing after making his debut as co-chair of the JMMC.
"The market was disappointed that OPEC+ did not consider deepening production cuts," the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited analysts said in a note Friday.
The International Energy Agency lowered its estimate of the "call" on OPEC crude oil in the first half of 2020 to 28.3 million bpd and said market management would remain "daunting".