Shares in major oil stocks gushed higher today after producers of the black stuff said they were squeezing supplies.
Elevate Your Investing Strategy:
- Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
Pausing Hikes
At a meeting over the weekend, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), including heavyweights such as Saudi Arabia, and its allies OPEC+ agreed to lift exports by 137,000 barrels a day in December before freezing any further increases in January, February and March.
The decision represents a shift in strategy for the eight-member group, which has raised its collective production quota by almost 3 million barrels a day over the past year.
It sent Chevron (CVX) 0.18% higher, ExxonMobil (XOM) up 0.43% and Shell (SHEL) 0.41% higher in pre-market trading. BP (BP), which refocused its business back to oil from green energy earlier this year, was however down 0.26%.
The OPEC+ move, aimed at easing fears of a supply glut, sent Brent crude up 0.4% to $65.50 per barrel in early trading, while West Texas Intermediate futures lost 0.8% to $61.28 a barrel.
Rosy Outlook
It also gave banking giant Morgan Stanley (MS) the impetus to hike its price forecast for Brent Crude for 2026 to $60 per barrel from $57.50.
“Even if the OPEC announcement does not change the mechanics of our production outlook, it does send an important signal,” the bank’s analysts said. “With OPEC involvement, volatility is reduced.”
ING’s head of commodity services Warren Patterson added: “Obviously, still plenty of uncertainty over the scale of the surplus, which will be dependent on how disruptive U.S. sanctions will be to Russian oil flows.”
Oil prices have fallen about 13% over the past twelve months, hit by fears of a slowing global economy and rising stockpiles of oil as a result.
Geopolitical strife including the Ukraine conflict and subsequent sanctions on major oil producer Russia as well as conflict between Israel and Iran have led to huge volatility in the oil price this year.
That is likely to continue into 2026 but for now oil stocks can breathe a little easier when thinking about those early months of the year.
What are the Best Oil Stocks to Buy Now?
We have rounded up the best oil stocks to buy now using our TipRanks comparison tool.
