Brent Under Pressure Following OPEC Meeting

Brent crude oil was trading steadily below $112 on Thursday morning following Wednesday's OPEC meeting. The commodity traded at $111.63 at 5:40 GMT.  

reported that Brent prices slipped after OPEC ended it's meeting by agreeing to renew its 30 million barrel per day production cap for the first half of 2014. The group has worked to keep oil prices above $100 as that is the break even point for several of its members.

US crude was moving in the opposite direction after US inventory data showed an unexpected drop in crude stockpiles. The US Energy Information Administration released a report on Wednesday which showed that domestic crude stocks were down 5.6 million barrels in the last week of November. The unexpected dip was the first in 10 weeks. The two crude prices moving in opposite directions caused the spread to narrow and Brent's premium over WTI lost nearly $2.00 on Wednesday. Brent prices have been elevated by ongoing labor protests in Libya for the past few months. However, Libyan Oil Minister Abdelbari al-Arusi said the nation could reopen all of its shut down oilfields on December 10th. The statement, out on Wednesday, was taken with caution by investors who were not convinced that the Libyan government can take control of the situation. Moving forward Brent prices could feel the effects of tapering speculation, which has made its way back into the markets ahead of the US Federal Reserve's upcoming policy meeting. Although the chances of a taper at the bank's December meeting are slim, continually improving economic data could push the bank to begin to reduce its stimulus spending sooner rather than later.