(Bloomberg) -- Oil was steady in Asian trading before the OPEC+ alliance meets to decide whether it can keep lifting output as surging coronavirus infections smother the global energy demand recovery.
Futures in New York traded near $48 a barrel after rising 0.6% last week. The alliance returned 500,000 barrels a day to the market this month and meets later on Monday to decide on production levels for February. The outlook for the first half is very mixed and there are still many downside risks to juggle, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said at a meeting on Sunday.
The U.K. prime minister said tougher lockdown measures will likely be needed in England, Ireland reported record virus cases for a second day and Norway tightened restrictions. In New York, a rolling seven-day average of positive tests topped 9% for a third day, compared with less than 2% in November.
The American crude benchmark has been trading near $48 a barrel for the last few sessions as the market weighs a deteriorating short-term energy demand outlook against an expected pick up later in the year once enough people have been vaccinated. The OPEC+ alliance led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will decide on Monday whether it can continue to restore crude supplies without capsizing the price recovery they spent most of 2020 working to achieve.
Moscow has said that the group, which slashed output last year, can revive another 500,000 barrels a day of idle capacity in February, while Riyadh has kept its views under wraps. OPEC’s production rose by 190,000 barrels a day to 25.3 million barrels a day in December, with Libya driving the gain, according to JBC Energy. Angola, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Algeria also boosted supply.
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