Crude oil prices near flat on OPEC uncertainty

Oil prices wavered between gains and losses Tuesday as traders positioned ahead of weekly inventory data and a coming meeting of major producers.

U.S. prices for October delivery recently fell 15 cents, or 0.3%, to $46.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, fell 28 cents, or 0.6%, to $48.98 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

Prices have hovered in a narrow trading range in recent sessions amid conflicting views about how quickly the global glut of crude is set to shrink.

Stockpiles of crude oil and petroleum products around the world remain ample, with U.S. inventories at record highs. Storage data for the week ended Aug. 26 is due Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is set to release its own data for the same week later Tuesday.

In addition, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are set to meet in September to discuss taking coordinated action to boost the market, which could limit new output from major producers including Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

”Prices are still finding support from the expectations of an agreement on production caps being reached,” Commerzbank said in a note.
Major producers tried to reach a freeze agreement in April and failed, as Iran was unwilling to participate. “If the [September] meeting ends without something concrete, the oil price risks slipping rapidly back to the $40 [a barrel] level and then below,” brokerage PVM said in a note.

In addition, some market watchers warn that a production freeze would do little to reduce global supplies, because OPEC members are already producing at high rates.

Gasoline futures recently fell 1.6% to $1.4436 a gallon. Diesel futures fell 0.5% to $1.4786 a gallon.

WSJ