Oil prices decline amid rising US inventories, delayed OPEC + meeting

Oil prices decline amid rising US inventories, delayed OPEC meeting+

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices continued to decline on Wednesday amid unexpected surge in US crude inventories and market uncertainty after OPEC postponed its meeting to raise production from January.

Futures for Brent crude oil fell 0.65% to $ 47.11 a barrel by 09:10 Moscow time, and for WTI crude - by 0.79% to $ 44.2 a barrel.

Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed US crude oil inventories rose 4.1 million barrels last week, compared to analysts surveyed by Reuters expectations of a 2.4 million barrels drop..

OPEC + has postponed talks on its oil production policy for next year to Thursday from Tuesday due to disagreements between group members, sources said..

Earlier this year, the group agreed to cut production by 7.7 million barrels per day due to falling demand amid the pandemic. It is expected that these restrictions will continue in January-March 2021 against the backdrop of a new surge in the incidence.

"Risks high that OPEC + will fail to reach agreement", - said in a note from ANZ analysts on Wednesday.

"The return of the virus has led to increased travel restrictions in Europe and the United States", - they wrote, adding that the oversupply in the market could range from 1.5 million to 3 million barrels per day in the first half of next year, if OPEC + does not extend the production cut.

Restrictions on oil production in non-OPEC Norway, which have been in effect since June, are due to end on December 31, which could further lead to lower oil prices.

(Jessica Yaganathan. Translated by Caleb Davis. Editor Anna Kozlova)