Oil prices were lower in Asian trade on Friday following an overnight rally ahead of OPEC's weekend meeting to discuss output levels, analysts said.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for April, dipped 34 cents to USD 46.69 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April declined 33 cents to USD 44.76.
Analysts said the market was looking to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna on Sunday to discuss whether to slash production.
The cartel pumps about 40 percent of the world's crude supplies.
"Most industry specialists seem to anticipate another cut but we are not convinced there is a consensus yet among the cartel members," said Julian Jessop, chief economist of London-based research house Capital Economics.
"Even if OPEC does cut quotas by the 500,000 barrels per day that some expect, the impact on prices should be limited. For a start, by far the greater issue is the weakness on the demand side," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment