Oil Prices Dip After OPEC+ Delay Policy Talks

Oil prices fell after OPEC+ oil production talks scheduled for Tuesday to deal with 2021 output policy were postponed. OPEC+, comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC), Russia and other allies, delayed the talks until Thursday due to internal friction between key players that could not reach a consensus on what to do in January: raise or lower oil production output. Brent crude was down $.75 to $47.13 a barrel by 11:04 a.m. ET (16:04 GMT), after dropping more than 1% on Monday. West Texas Intermediate, a global oil benchmark, was down $1.08 at $44.26 a barrel, after dropping 0.4% in the previous session. While several OPEC+ members view the market as remaining too weak to receive more barrels, other states are more than ready to pump up production in order to take advantage of recently higher price levels. In November, oil prices rose by close to 27%, mostly on hopes that COVID-19 vaccines would rekindle global economic growth. Russia and OPEC are committed to helping to rebalance the global oil market and achieve sustainable stability, OPEC said in a statement after talks between the two on Tuesday.