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Crude oil futures were largely steady during mid-morning trade in Asia Wednesday as more clarity emerged on the dates for the upcoming bi-annual OPEC non-OPEC meeting for Vienna. while a mildly bullish weekly report on US crude inventories also provided some support.
At 10:30 am Singapore time (0230 GMT). ICE Brent August futures were unchanged from Tuesday`s settle at $62.14 b. while the NYMEX July light sweet crude futures contract was up 11 cents b (0.2%) at $54.01 b.
OPEC and its allies are considering proposals to move the date of their next meeting in Vienna to either July 1-2 or July 11-12. a source told S&.P Global Platts on Tuesday. as the expiry of their production cut agreement looms.
Either shift would accommodate Iran. whose oil minister Bijan Zanganeh had said Monday he would be unavailable over July 3-7. The meeting had originally been scheduled for June 25-26. but non-OPEC Russia had requested a change to July 3-4 so that it would fall after the G20 summit in Japan on June 28-29.
The key item on the meeting agenda is a decision on whether to extend the 24-country OPEC non-OPEC coalition`s 1.2 million b d production cut agreement that is set to expire at the end of June
The OPEC meeting comes at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East after a series of alleged attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and a key Saudi pipeline that Saudi Arabia has blamed on Iran.
The administration of US President Donald Trump Tuesday pressed other countries to step up their efforts to protect navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. while also downplaying the market impact of recent alleged attacks on oil tankers.
In remarks at US Central Command in Florida. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo specifically cited China. South Korea. Indonesia and Japan as having `enormous interest` in freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Some clarity also emerged on the ongoing trade dispute between US and China. with Trump announcing via Twitter that he would meet China`s President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week in Japan.
`While this [the announcement of the US-China meeting] certainly is a near-term boost for markets. the question as to what can be resolved by the two leaders meeting that had not been done so despite months of discussions keeps this as a risk factor.` said IG market strategist Pan Jingyi.
US crude stocks for the week ended June 14 were down 812.000 barrels from the week before. according to analyst reports quoting data released by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday.
Analysts surveyed Monday by Platts had been expecting US crude stocks to have declined by 2 million barrels for the same period.
More definitive weekly US inventory data is due for release by US Energy information Administration later Wednesday.
