Crude oil futures retreated on Monday as fears mounted that OPEC members may not reach an agreement to stabilize the crude oil market, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October West Texas Intermediate crude fell 66 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $46.98 a barrel.
October Brent crude, the global benchmark, shed 66 cents, or 1.3%, to end trading at $49.26 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
A major component for the oil markets in future weeks will including any further discussion from OPEC members who are slated to meet next month in Algeria to discuss stabilizing the oil markets.
“The market will be in a wait-and-see mode until the (OPEC) meeting, even though the general expectation is that OPEC will do a lot of talking but not much doing,” said Aaron Lynch, an energy analyst at OptionsXpress.
Low expectations surrounding OPEC is mostly a result of several failed attempts in the past when the group couldn’t come to an agreement on how to stimulate prices, according to the report.
“An agreement seems some way off, if not impossible,” said Stuart Ive, a client manager at OM Financial.
Meanwhile, September natural gas fell by 1.8 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $2.853 per million British thermal units. October natural gas, which is now the front-month contract, finished, down 1.7 cents, or 0.6% to end trading at $2.896 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.