Oil prices steady on quiet Thanksgiving trade and next week’s OPEC+ meet

Oil prices were steady on Friday, with the US Thanksgiving holiday coming. Meanwhile, investors anticipate the OPEC meeting set to be on the first week of December as possibilities of extending the production cut may arise.

Brent crude LCOcl dropped 5 cents, at $63.82 a barrel by 0103 GMT. It initially dropped 0.3% on Thursday.

West Texas Intermediate CLcl increased by 1 cent, at $58.12 a barrel. In the previous session, contract increased by 0.2% while many US traders were already preparing for the holidays.

The OPEC meeting next week takes in allies including Russia (also known as OPEC+), which is at the top interest of the investors.

“At least some clarity is starting to emerge surrounding the OPEC meeting, where all parties concerned will attempt to enforce stricter compliance with the existing agreement,” chief Asia market strategist at Axitrader Stephen Innes said.

OPEC has been holding back output to support oil prices. Analysts expect the production cut to extend as US production keeps hitting records.

Russian oil companies offered to not change their output quotas as the production cuts run until March, enforcing pressure on OPEC+ to refrain from creating too much policy shift in next week’s meeting in Vienna.

Still, “risk-neutral is an excellent spot to be ahead of the weekend as there is a ton of headline risk that could upset the apple cart,” Innes said.