Oil watchers predict OPEC+ to maintain steady supply

Oil watchers predict OPEC+ to maintain steady supply

OPEC watchers expect the group and its allies to refrain from further production cuts next week, even after Saudi Arabia delivered a warning to short sellers. Riyadh and its partners will probably opt to keep output levels unchanged when they gather in Vienna on June 3-4, according to 17 of 23 traders and analysts surveyed by . Supply curbs already in place should be enough to tighten world markets and buoy prices, they said. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signaled the alliance is prepared to consider further action by challenging speculators this week, saying at a conference in Qatar that bears should “watch out.” Surprise unveiled by OPEC+ members last month initially scattered oil shorts and sent prices rallying, but the market has since subsided amid fears over the global economy, and money managers have turned negative again. Fund positions across a slew of contracts are the most bearish in more than a decade. Nonetheless, forecasters widely predict the will opt to keep output steady because rebounding demand in China, combined with the group’s current curbs, should rapidly deplete world inventories in the months ahead. Several OPEC+ delegates have also privately predicted a “rollover” of existing quotas. “I