Oil price news: Oil slips as traders trim bets OPEC+ will further tighten supply

Oil declined after two days of gains as traders tempered expectations that OPEC+ will intervene in the market to bolster prices, with healthy supplies and ebbing geopolitical risks also adding to the retreat.

West Texas Intermediate eased less than one per cent to near US$77 a barrel after U.S. President Joe Biden said that a deal to free some Israeli hostages held by militant group Hamas is imminent. Oil rose more than six per cent in the prior two sessions on speculation that Saudi Arabia and its allies may deepen supply cuts at their next meeting on Nov. 26. U.S. oil options point to many traders increasing bets on this outcome in a bid to reverse a recent slide in prices.

Between now and the weekend meeting, traders will get fresh insights into U.S. fundamentals with the release of official figures on crude and product stockpiles. Nationwide crude inventories have expanded for the past four weeks to the highest since August. There’s also a U.S. holiday that is likely to curtail trading activity in the second half of the week.

An expected buildup in U.S. stockpiles, as well as the contango structure of WTI’s front-month spread, “are keeping a lid on prices,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president for trading at BOK Financial Securities. “But its mostly a choppy trade until we see what OPEC+ is going to do.”