Investing.com - Oil futures tumbled to the lowest level in nearly a month on Friday and booked their biggest weekly loss since the middle of September amid mounting skepticism over the implementation of a planned deal by OPEC to limit production.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for December delivery fell to a session low of $49.31 a barrel, a level not seen since September 30. It was last at $49.71 by close of trade Friday, settling down 76 cents, or 1.51%.
For the week, it logged a decline of $2.24, or 4.3%, amid fading expectations of a coordinated production cut among major global oil producers.
OPEC officials meeting in Vienna to work out the details of their plan to reduce oil production failed to reach agreement after hours of talks on Friday, amid objections by Iran which has been reluctant to even freeze its output, OPEC sources said.
The 14-member oil group reached an agreement to cap output to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day in talks held in Algeria in late September.
However, OPEC said it won’t finalize details on individual output quotas until its next official meeting in Vienna on November 30.
In September, the group’s production reached 33.4 million barrels a day.
The possibility that producers could walk away empty-handed from the November meeting looms large after Iraq, Iran, Nigeria and Libya all signaled they might not take part in the proposed production cut deal. Russia’s unclear stance is also fueling uncertainty.
Elsewhere, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for delivery in December slumped $1.02, or 2.05%, to end the week at $48.70 a barrel. The contract dropped to $48.42 earlier, the lowest level since October 4.
Prices stayed lower after oilfield services provider Baker Hughes said late Friday that the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. last week fell by 2 to 441, marking the first weekly decline since June.
New York-traded oil futures lost $1.65, or 3.3%, on the week, snapping a streak of five straight weekly advances.
In the week ahead, oil traders will focus on U.S. stockpile data on Tuesday and Wednesday for fresh supply-and-demand signals.
Market players will also continue to pay close attention to comments from global oil producers to gauge their readiness on freezing or cutting output.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of these and other significant events likely to affect the markets.
Tuesday, November 1
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is to publish its weekly report on U.S. oil supplies.
Wednesday, November 2
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is to release weekly data on oil and gasoline stockpiles.
Friday, November 4
Baker Hughes will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count.