Brent Crude Tests $80/barrel Price Level on Saudi Comments – WSJ.com.
Brent crude recouped early losses to trade around the $80 a barrel mark in Asian trade Thursday, after dropping below the key psychological price level earlier in the session.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $77.04 a barrel at 0445 GMT, down $0.14 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.36 to $80.02 a barrel.
Oil markets were reacting to Wednesday’s comments from Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, the largest producing member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and weaker oil market forecasts by energy agencies.
The comments of the oil minister, the first in nearly two months came even as oil prices swung wildly on speculation about the country’s market strategy.
The international oil market and Saudi oil policy have been subject to a great deal of wild and inaccurate conjecture in recent weeks, but the policy has remained constant in the past few decades and has not changed today, Mr. al-Naimi said.
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