OPEC Deal, Inventory Dip Buoys Crude Oil Settlements on Thursday

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With West Texas Intermediate remaining below $50 a barrel, crude oil futures climbed on Thursday as traders seemed optimistic about the possibility of an OPEC production output deal and a surprise drop in domestic crude inventories, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, December WTI crude gained 54 cents, or 1.1%, to end trading at $49.72 a barrel after tallying a loss of more than 3% over the last three trading sessions. Prices settled at a three-week low of $49.18 a barrel on Wednesday.

On the London ICE Futures Exchange, December Brent crude added 49 cents, or 1%, to settle at $50.47 a barrel.

The crude oil market may get a clearer understanding of OPEC’s proposed plan to curb production to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels a day in the next few days. The cartel has scheduled a technical meeting on Friday followed by a meeting with non-OPEC members on Saturday in Vienna, Austria.

Meanwhile, November natural gas settled up 3.3 cents, or 1.2%, at $2.764 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as the November contract expired at the session’s settlement. December natural gas, the front-month contract, added 3.2 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $3.068 per million BTUs.

Natural gas supplies rose by 73 billion cubic feet for the week ending October 21. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts expected a rise of 75 billion cubic feet.