also showed on Tuesday that China's factory activity swung to contraction in July, with supply, demand and export orders all deteriorating amid sluggish market conditions.
National Australia Bank analysts expect oil prices to hit 2023 price highs ahead of this Friday's ministerial meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+. "The OPEC meeting this Friday is a potential catalyst for the outlook where we expect Saudi Arabia's voluntary supply cuts to be extended another month," NAB said in a Tuesday note.
In June, OPEC+ agreed on a broad deal to limit oil supply into 2024, and Saudi Arabia pledged an additional voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day for July. On July 3, Saudi Arabia said the cut would include August, adding that itThe Saudi Arabian cuts fell slightly short of the target, with output down by 860,000 bpd in July, while total production from OPEC was 840,000 bpd lower, a ReutersThe data showing the supply cuts coincided with U.S.
U.S. crude oil and gasoline stockpiles were expected to have declined last week, according to a Reuters poll which estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 900,000 barrels in the week to July 28.