Oil price inches to $46.65

Brent oil is slightly up this morning at 46.65 $/bbl after Algeria said OPEC may turn its informal talks next week into a formal session and weekly industry data showing that US crude inventories declined.

With a week to go ahead of the OPEC summit at the IEF in Algiers, analysts said to expect further headlines around a potential freeze to keep supporting crude prices.

Yesterday came news that Russia (currently at a record 11mbpd) would support a 1 year freeze in production, if proposed.

The fundamentals, though, continue to weaken as disrupted volumes return to the market – Libya appears to be ramping up ahead of most investors’ bearish expectations.

In Norway more than 300 oil service workers will go on strike on today after wage talks broke down, Reuters reports, citing union Industri Energi.