(Bloomberg) — Oil edged higher alongside equity markets, as investors weighed the demand outlook after Saudi Arabia trimmed pricing for most of its grades.
Brent rose toward $67 a barrel after closing 0.8% higher on Monday, while West Texas Intermediate was near $63, as global stocks climbed on optimism around US interest-rate cuts. For the oil market, focus remained on the price reduction by Saudi Aramco and a modest production boost by OPEC for October.
At the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference in Singapore, Trafigura Group’s Chief Economist Saad Rahim said low inventories in pricing centers such as Europe, along with stockpiling from China, have contributed to the resilience in oil prices recently. Tight product markets also provided support, he added.
OPEC “has announced a huge amount of increases over the past few months, but a lot of those barrels have yet to really make themselves felt in the physical market,” Rahim said during a panel session on Tuesday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies decided to return 137,000 barrels a day in October, a smaller increment than scheduled for previous months, highlighting some caution in the outlook. Still, it signals a push by the group to reclaim market share over defending prices.
Aramco, meanwhile, will trim the price for all its crude for buyers in Asia next month, potentially sending a bearish signal, according to traders dealing oil in the region. The market is facing an oversupply toward the end of the year and into 2026, which will likely put downward pressure on prices.
“Saudi Arabia has clearly shifted toward a market share battle, leaving the market with a high certainty of a supply glut,” said Zhou Mi, an analyst at a research institute affiliated with Chaos Ternary Futures Co.
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