Commodities
OPEC+ Meeting Looms Amidst Ongoing Tensions and Strong Natural Gas Fundamentals
The upcoming OPEC+ meeting on August 2 is expected to decide on another 188,000 barrels per day production increase in September. This decision comes as recent tensions with Iran have led to new supply outages and pushed OPEC+ production far below its quota.
In the US, commercial crude stockpiles increased by 2 million barrels to 411.7 million barrels for the week ended July 17, beating expectations of a draw. However, US crude oil production fell slightly to 13.8 million bpd.
Natural gas fundamentals are strong due to the expansion of U.S. LNG supply to foreign markets. The EIA released its outlook for U.S. LNG to average 17.0 Bcf/d in 2026 and increase to 18.5 Bcf/d in 2027 as new production comes online.