Crude oil trades sideways
November 3, 2025
Crude oil is trading sideways here to start the new week as OPEC+ announced its decision to increase production by 137,000 bpd in December over the weekend. With the outlook for an oversupplied market in 2026, OPEC+ said they will pause any production increase statements about 2026, which offers some support to crude prices in that time frame. The oversupply is expected to peak in the first quarter of 2026, so OPEC+ was smart to make its statement about its plans for early 2026.
The other factor is that reports say Saudi Arabia is near its production capacity and other members have struggled to meet their quotas, so announcing a production increase in December may be a moot point.
Energy prices rallied after being down early in the day on Friday when news hit that a US air strike was being planned on Venezuela and could happen at any time. With the U.S.’s largest aircraft carrier, Gerald Ford, being deployed off the coast of Venezuela this gave this story some merit, but it was later denied.
Responding to the news from OPEC+ Morgan Stanley raised its price forecast for Brent crude oil for the next year from $57.50 to $60.00 per barrel. Other analysts are likely to follow suit.
Globa trading house Gunvor is said to be guying Russian oil giant Lukoil’s international assets. Lukoil was just sanctioned by the US.
Energy markets continue to be mixed with a lot of news in the market and traders watching and waiting to see what news breaks.