Overview
- Brent hovered near $64.7 and WTI around $60.2 on Friday, with both benchmarks set to fall about 3% for October.
- Traders weighed the Xi–Trump meeting in Busan, which markets hope could ease trade tensions and support future demand.
- U.S. crude inventories fell by 6.86 million barrels to 416 million last week, according to the EIA, bolstering near-term support.
- OPEC+ is leaning toward a modest December output increase of about 137,000 barrels per day, according to sources familiar with the talks.
- A firmer dollar and higher global output, including a U.S. production record near 13.6 million bpd, pressured prices despite sanctions-related uncertainty and talk of Chinese energy purchases.