An oil and gas industry worker walks during operations of a drilling rig at Zhetybay field in the Mangystau region, Kazakhstan, November 13, 2023.Â
Turar Kazangapov | Reuters
Crude oil futures edged lower Tuesday as China’s pledged to boost economic growth and OPEC+ decision to extend its production cuts fell flat with traders.
The West Texas Intermediate contract for April shed 59 cents, or 0.75%, to settle at $78.15 a barrel. May Brent futures lost 76 cents, or 0.92%, to settle at $82.04 a barrel.
The Beijing government on Tuesday set an economic growth target of about 5% for 2024 and announced the issuance of $138.9 billion in “ultra-long” special treasury bonds to fund major projects.
OPEC and its allies, OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to extend crude production cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day through the second quarter.
Walter Chancellor, an energy strategist at Macquarie, told clients in a note Sunday that the extension of OPEC+ reductions, which was widely expected, had probably already been priced into the market.
Traders have worried for months that faltering economic growth in China and an abundance of crude produced in the Americas, above all the U.S., will put downward pressure on prices.
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