News wire — Oil prices slipped on Tuesday, driven by profit-taking in response to multi-year highs reached after OPEC+ producers clashed over plans to raise supply to meet rising gGlobal oil demand.
Brent crude was down $1.30 a barrel, or 1.7%, at $75.86 by 1354 GMT, having hit a session peak of $77.84 for its highest since October 2018.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded down 47 cents, or 0.6%, at $74.69 after touching $76.98 for its highest since November 2014.
Ministers from OPEC+, which groups producers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with Russia and others, abandoned talks on Monday as negotiations failed to close divisions within the group.
No date for further talks has been announced.
The United Arab Emirates said it would go along with output increases but rejected a separate proposal to extend curbs to the end of 2022 from an existing April deadline.
Some OPEC+ sources said they still believed the group would resume discussions this month and agree to pump more from August, though others said current curbs might remain in place.
Russian President Vladimir Putin does not have immediate plans for contacts with top officials at OPEC+, a Kremlin spokesman said, adding that work is continuing on reaching a decision on output policy.
Goldman Sachs said the collapse of the talks has introduced uncertainty into the group’s production path. The bank maintained its view of an $80 per barrel Brent price and gradual increase in output early next year.
“The differences between both parties seem surmountable as they agree on ramping-up production into year-end with the still high uncertainty for 2022 oil balances making a pledge to any long-term commitment unnecessary today,” the bank said.
The Biden administration is pushing for a compromise solution in the talks, a White House spokesperson said on Monday.
“We are not a party to these talks, but administration officials have been engaged with relevant capitals to urge a compromise solution that will allow proposed production increases to move forward,” the spokesperson said.
Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar on Monday said that his country does not want to see oil prices soaring above current levels and that he hoped that within 10 days a date would be set for a new OPEC+ meeting.
In a sign of a tightening market, top oil exporter Saudi Arabia raised the August official selling prices of all crude grades it sells to Asia, the country’s state oil producer Aramco said on Tuesday.
- Reuters
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