Oil prices were steady on Tuesday (October 7th) as investors assessed a smaller-than-expected OPEC+ production increase in November amid expectations of oversupply.

Brent crude futures fell 9 cents, or 0.14%, to $65.38 a barrel at 10:07 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 10 cents, or 0.16%, to $61.59. Both contracts closed more than 1% higher in the previous session after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia, and several smaller producers, known as OPEC+, decided to increase their collective oil output by 137,000 barrels per day, starting in November.

This move contradicts market expectations for a more aggressive supply increase, a sign that the group remains cautious about increasing its production share in the global oil market amid predictions of a supply surplus in the fourth quarter and next year, ING analysts said.

"Brent had fallen by about $5 per barrel last week in response to earlier expectations of a larger supply increase, so this mild rebound seems reasonable," said Anh Pham, senior analyst at LSEG. "For now, the market still seems able to accommodate additional volumes, and we haven't seen a shift into contango at the beginning of the curve."

OPEC+ is not discussing quota increases beyond November, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. OPEC+ has raised its oil production target by more than 2.7 million barrels per day this year, equivalent to about 2.5% of global demand. Geopolitical factors have kept prices low, with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine impacting energy assets and creating uncertainty over Russian crude supplies.

Russia's Kirishi oil refinery shut down its most productive distillation unit following a drone attack and subsequent fire on October 4, with recovery likely to take about a month, two industry sources said on Monday. (alg)

Source: Reuters