LONDON: Oil prices slipped on Thursday ahead of a key OPEC meeting to decide production policy at a time of huge global oversupply.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is expected on Friday to keep a group output target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd), a ceiling it has been exceeding for most of the last two years, weakening prices.
The cartel is now pumping about 2 million bpd more than needed, analyst say, feeding a glut that has left millions of barrels stored on tankers without a buyer and kept prices at close to half their peak levels last year.
Brent for July LCOc1 was down 55 cents at $63.25 a barrel by 0810 GMT. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were 45 cents lower at $59.19.
“A roll-over in OPEC’s production target is built into prices,” said Tamas Varga, oil analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates. “Given the exciting fundamental backdrop, volatility is all but guaranteed.”
