Oil prices climbed in early Asian trade on Monday after OPEC+ decided to hold off production hikes in the first quarter of next year, easing rising fears of a supply glut.
Brent crude futures rose 47 cents, or 0.73%, to $65.24 a barrel by 2336 GMT after closing 7 cents higher on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $61.43 a barrel, up 45 cents, or 0.74%, after settling up 41 cents in the previous session. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to raise output by 137,000 barrels per day in December, the same as for October and November.
“Beyond December, due to seasonality, the eight countries also decided to pause the production increments in January, February, and March 2026,” the group said in a statement.
RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said: “There is ample ground for a cautious approach given the uncertainty over the Q1 supply picture and the anticipated demand softness.”
She added that Russia remains a key supply wild card in the wake of the U.S. imposing sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil as well as the ongoing strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. A Ukrainian drone attack struck on Sunday the Tuapse port, one of Russia’s main Black Sea oil ports, causing a fire and damaging at least one ship.
Brent and WTI fell more than 2% for a third straight month in October, hitting a five-month low on October 20 on fears of a supply glut and economic concerns about U.S. tariffs. Analysts are holding their oil price forecasts largely unchanged as rising OPEC+ output and lacklustre demand offset geopolitical risks to supply, a Reuters poll showed. Estimates of oil market surplus ranged anywhere from 0.19 to 3 million bpd. The Energy Information Administration reported on Friday that U.S. crude oil output rose 86,000 bpd to a record 13.8 million bpd in August. On Friday, President Donald Trump denied he was considering strikes inside Venezuela amid intensifying expectations that Washington may soon expand drug-trafficking-related operations.
(Reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Nia Williams)