West Texas Intermediate crude fell for a third day, the longest run of declines in four weeks, as OPEC boosted output to the highest level in five months.
WTI slid as much as 1.2 percent, and London-traded Brent dropped for a second day. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries produced 30.46 million barrels a day last month, up from 30.18 million in March, the group’s secretariat said May 10. That’s the most since November. Morgan Stanley predicted that the spread between WTI and Brent will widen as U.S. supplies accumulate.
“Even if demand surprises, the market is still likely to remain comfortably supplied,” said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, who predicts that WTI will struggle to surpass $96.80 a barrel this month.
WTI for June delivery fell as much as $1.18 to $94.86 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $95.18 at 12:00 p.m. London time. The volume of all contracts traded was 1.2 percent below the 100-day average.
Brent for June settlement lost as much as $1.24, or 1.2 percent, to $102.67 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $7.59 to WTI, the narrowest since January 2011, compared with $7.87 on May 10.
