Oil Unmoved After New OPEC Deal Leaves Supply Little Changed

(Bloomberg) -- Oil prices sputtered after OPEC failed to impress traders with what appeared to be a cosmetic revision to output quotas.

Futures were unchanged in New York after gyrating throughout the session, at one point reaching the highest since September. A key committee recommended in Vienna that the group cut output targets by 500,000 barrels a day. While crucial details have yet to emerge, the latest move seems to formalize the extra supply reductions the group has already been making for most of this year.

“This is a meaningless agreement since it doesn't change supply of oil in market,” said Michael Hiley, head of OTC energy trading with LPS Partners. “Sure, its not wildly bullish but its not wildly bearish either, so that's why the market is moving up and down.”

The committee convened by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies also agreed to leave condensates out of Russia's quota from this month, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in Vienna.

Excluding condensate from the current deal would mean a new reference target that would exclude 1.4 million barrels a day of liquids, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Francesco Martoccia wrote in a note.

Click here for a TopLive blog on the OPEC meeting

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery settled unchanged at $58.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Still, the benchmark is set for the largest weekly gain since September.

Brent for February settlement advanced 39 cents to $63.39 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange. The global benchmark crude traded at a $5.05 premium to WTI for the same month.

--With assistance from Alex Longley.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sheela Tobben in New York at vtobben@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net, Mike Jeffers, Joe Carroll

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