WTI Choppily Traded Ahead OPEC+ Decision

Thursday has been a uneven day for crude oil prices, as traders eye OPEC+ decision to hike concerning January production.

The big news of the day was OPEC+’s decision to surprise markets by not choosing to halt output hikes in January but to press ahead with another incremental 400000 barrel per day output hike on the month.

The decision causes initial selling pressure, which is when WTI hit the $62.00s, but the dip was quickly observed, and WTI has swung between lows in the $62.00s and highs above $67.00, and currently trades a tad higher near $66.00, near $5.0 range. At present, WTI is trading close to the $66.0 mark and is slightly in the green on the day.

The day’s price action reflects the market’s ongoing struggle to ascertain what will be the next step for the crude oil demand outlook.

The OPEC+ decision as a positive for oil markets as it signaled that the group’s confidence in the market had not been rocked by recent Omicron-related developments.

OPEC thought it might do more damage than good, to pause on production increases and that it might send a signal to the market that the demand destruction priced in was real.