Oil advances for third day ahead of high-stakes OPEC+ meeting

​Oil rose for a third day as traders counted down to a key meeting that will see OPEC+ set output policy into the new year.

West Texas Intermediate rose to trade above US$78 a barrel. OPEC+ heavyweight Saudi Arabia is pressing fellow members to join it in restraining output to stave off a renewed oil surplus next year. A deeper collective cut by 1 million barrels a day or more will be discussed when ministers meet by video conference, delegates said.

The absence of group-wide reductions may spur more weakness in oil prices — after Brent dropped roughly 13 per cent over the past two months — amid plentiful supplies from outside the producer group, including record exports from the US. The International Energy Agency said earlier this month the market would flip back into a surplus next year.

“I think there will be a deal,” Amrita Sen, co-founder and director of research at consultant Energy Aspects said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “There’s a lot of pressure on the group because you have seen prices come off a lot, there are concerns about the global economy.”