Crude oil prices turned lower Thursday, retreating from their highest levels of the year reached a day earlier, as doubts emerged over a potential meeting set for March 20 between major oil producers regarding a production freeze.
April West Texas Intermediate crude lost 45 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $37.84 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange declined $1.02, or 2.5%, to $40.05 a barrel.
“If this is a breakdown of the agreement to freeze production, it would be a big deal for oil markets because the market had priced in production cuts,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.
A global glut in supply means that over 1 million bpd of crude is produced in excess of demand and that has left storage tanks around the world brimming with unsold oil. Analysts say that a fundamental reduction in supplies must happen before prices can move higher.
Natural gas futures reversed from earlier declines to end higher. April natural gas settled at $1.788 per million British thermal units, up 3.6 cents, or 2.1%.
