Investing.com - In the week ahead, oil traders will continue to pay close attention to comments from global crude producers to gauge their readiness on cutting output ahead of an important OPEC gathering next month.
Oil prices continued their collapse last week to reach their lowest level in more than a year, deepening a rapid seven-week sell-off, with surging supply and the specter of faltering demand scaring off investors.
Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet on Dec. 6 in Vienna to decide on production policy for the next six months.
OPEC officials have been making increasingly frequent public statements that the cartel and its partners would start withholding crude in 2019 to tighten supply and prop up prices.
Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de facto leader, wants the cartel to slash production by about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), according to recent reports.
On Friday, global oil prices plunged, with the U.S. benchmark registering its worst day in about three years, amid indications of swelling global inventories.
West Texas Intermediate crude sank $4.21, or 7.7%, to close at $50.42 a barrel by close of trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, representing the worst day since July 6, 2015. It fell to a session low of $50.15, a level last seen on Oct. 10, 2017.
For the week, WTI lost 10.7%, tallying their seventh straight weekly drop.
Meanwhile, the global benchmark, Brent crude for January delivery on the ICE (NYSE:ICE) Futures Europe exchange, dropped $3.84, or 6.1%, to end at a 13-month low of $59.04 a barrel.
It lost about 12% for the week.
WTI has now lost 34% of its value from its peak on Oct. 3 to the trough on Friday. Brent has fallen as much as 32%.
Looking ahead, fresh weekly data on U.S. commercial crude inventories to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer and how fast output levels will continue to rise will capture the market's attention.
The Energy Information Administration reported last week that domestic crude supplies rose by 4.9 million barrels, up for a ninth straight week, while U.S. production rose to another record.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of the main events likely to affect the oil market.
Tuesday, November 27
The American Petroleum Institute is to publish its weekly update on U.S. oil supplies.
Wednesday, November 28
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil stockpiles.
Friday, November 30
Baker Hughes will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count.