Oil prices set for worst week since October 2023 as OPEC+ fails to reassure market

Crude oil futures were on pace for a deep weekly loss, as the OPEC+ decision to postpone a production hike failed to ease worries that supply would outstrip demand.

The Brent global benchmark has fallen 7.2% and is on pace for its worst week since October 2023. The U.S. benchmark is down 5.4% for its worst week since early May.

OPEC+ delayed plans to increase production by 180,000 barrels per day until December as oil sold off steeply this week. The output hike will bring about 2.2 million bpd back onto the market through the end of next year.

Here are Friday’s energy prices:

• West Texas Intermediate October contract: $69.43 per barrel, up 63 cents, or 0.4%. Year to date, U.S. crude has fallen 5.5%.
• Brent November contract: $72.97 per barrel, up 28 cents, or 0.39%. Year to date, the global benchmark has decline 7.3%.
• RBOB Gasoline October contract: $1.94 per gallon, up 2 cents, 1.04%. Year to date, gasoline has pulled back 7.4%.
• Natural Gas October contract: $2.24 per thousand cubic feet, little changed. Year to date, gas has tumbled 10.5%.

Those barrels will return to the market as oil demand slows in China due to the world’s largest crude importer rapidly transitioning to electric vehicles.

Bank of America has slashed its oil forecast for 2025 to $75 for Brent, down from $80 previously, and to $71 for the U.S. benchmark from $75 previously.

Citi, meanwhile, is expecting Brent prices to average in the $60 range next year as the market is expected to enter into a substantial surplus.