- Oil is headed for a second consecutive weekly gain, supported by OPEC+'s decision to make a 2 MMBbl/d supply cut
- WTI rose nearly 12% this week to trade near $90/Bbl
- Prices were also supported by Russian warnings of output cuts as the EU, and the G7 nations backed a price cap on Russian crude
- The U.S. added 263,000 jobs in September, which was above estimates after a 315,000 addition in August, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, a five-decade low
- This implies a strong labor market, which puts the inflation-focused Federal Reserve on course for another significant interest-rate hike
- Biden addressed reporters yesterday on OPEC+'s plan to reduce production by 2 MMBbl/d (BBG)
- He said that although they "haven't made up our minds yet," the White House is "looking at what alternatives we may have."
- Biden added that his July trip to Saudi Arabia was not a mistake
- According to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the U.S. government is considering the NOPEC bill and other legislative options
- If signed into law, the NOPEC bill could allow the U.S. to sue OPEC+ members for violating antitrust laws
- The U.S. is considering easing sanctions on Venezuela, allowing Caracas to produce up to 1.5 MMBbl/d of oil within two years (WSJ)
- The U.S. government has said that it will "scale down" its sanctions against Venezuela in order to potentially reopen U.S. and European markets to Venezuelan oil shipments, which have considerably decreased from '90s levels of 3.2 MMBbl/d
- The deal would allow Chevron and U.S. oil service companies to resume exporting Venezuelan oil to the global market