Oil prices up ahead of OPEC+ meeting

By Firdevs Yuksel

ISTANBUL (AA) - Oil prices increased on Wednesday due to soaring supply-side concerns fueled by anticipated supply cuts by OPEC+ producers.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $91.98 per barrel at 09.56 a.m. local time (0656 GMT) for a 0.20% gain from the closing price of $91.80 a barrel in the previous trading session.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI), trading at $86.59 per barrel at the same time, increased 0.08% after the previous session closed at $86.52 a barrel.

Investors are now awaiting the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting on Wednesday, when the group is expected to trim output in November in line with its demand forecast.

According to international media, the group is considering a cut of up to 2 million barrels per day (bpd), even larger than first thought.

Experts believe that a reduction in output on this scale would tighten the market and this tightness could be exacerbated by a rebound in Chinese demand.

The member countries had agreed to cut production by 100,000 bpd in October.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) on late Tuesday also announced its estimate of a drop of over 1.77 million barrels in US crude oil inventories, relative to the market expectation of a 1.96-million-barrel rise.

Drops in inventories indicate an increase in crude demand in the US.

The official oil stock data will be announced by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.